Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed that Mateo Kovacic will be unavailable for Wednesday’s clash with Arsenal but is very pleased with the way Billy Gilmour has filled in.

Tuchel said: “He [Kovacic] is not ready for tomorrow, we have to postpone it to Wembley. His personal race is on to make it to the squad for Wembley.

“Billy Gilmour had to step up now because we miss Kova so much and we play normally always with a double-six, so we were rotating constantly between N’Golo [Kante], Jorgi[Jorginho] and Kova. Once we miss Kova now for so many games, so many weeks, it was on Billy to step up and I was very happy that he could deliver when it was needed.

‘So full credit for that, but Kova is a big loss with his ability to drive with the ball, his speed on the ball, without the ball. Kova is such a positive character and unique player, a real fighter on who you can always rely in games and training.

‘We really miss him, he is a good match with Jorgi and N’Golo in all combinations. So it’s a big miss and I can’t wait until he’s back in full team training. He’s taken some steps in the right direction and I hope he can rejoin team training after our game with Arsenal.”