Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed why Ben Chilwell has not yet managed to force his way into the Blues matches this season.

Marcos Alonso has been selected regularly instead by the German raising questions about the fate of Chilwell in the team.

“For Ben Chilwell, it’s very easy,” Tuchel explained when asked by football.london about the defender’s situation after the 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield.

“He came back with the latest group [from his summer break]. When he arrived, Marcos Alonso had five weeks in his legs from pre-season. He played the first competitive matches and was simply way more ready physically. This was natural because of the training session and his fantastic games.

“He played the Super Cup final and three Premier League games. Also, we only have three substitutions allowed and this is a huge problem, a huge, huge disadvantage in the European competitions for any English team.

“We play in the toughest league in the world but only have three [in-game] changes allowed.

“So you can’t say after 60 minutes, ‘Ben, I’ll give you 30 minutes now so you’re ready to start the next game’. You can’t say, ‘let’s see with Thiago how long he can go’. It’s simply not possible.

“Everyone who went further in pre-season is very strong [physically]. This is the only reason.

“But look at how Thiago played today, he was excellent. I could feel he was absolutely ready in the last week. I’ve known him a long time now, he made a huge step.

“Chilly needed his time in training to adapt to the intensity. He is ready now but it [facing Liverpool] wasn’t the moment to push him into the cold water.”