Tuchel says six Chelsea stars were suffering from colds in Palace win

Thomas Tuchel last night revealed six of his Chelsea players were suffering from colds caused by the air conditioning on the flight home from Abu Dhabi.

The newly-crowned world champions returned from the United Arab Emirates last weekend but the Blues boss says their preparations for the 1-0 win against the Eagles were disrupted.

‘We have six players with a cold from the air conditioning on the plane,’ said Tuchel. ‘We have jet leg from Abu Dhabi and we had almost no player who slept well because of the time difference.’

Tuchel also revealed Cesar Azpilicueta and Callum Hudson-Odoi missed the game with muscle injuries and are fitness doubts for Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 first-leg tie against Lille. 

Palace boss Patrick Vieira has his own injury concerns, with goalkeeper Vicente Guaita suffering a knee injury that saw him substituted at half-time.

On the last-minute defeat, Vieira added: ‘It is frustrating to concede a goal like that at the end. We knew we needed to defend well as a team for 95 minutes and we did it quite well. That just shows the quality of Chelsea and how important it is to keep concentrating.’