Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Christian Pulisic suffered another hamstring problem in Chelsea's 5-2 home defeat to West Brom on Saturday.
The 22-year-old felt pain in his hamstring at half-time but had hoped to continue for the rest of the match. However, Pulisic pulled up after a brief warm-up ahead of the second half, leading to his substitution for Mason Mount at the halfway point after the the U.S. national team star had opened the scoring in the first half.
The latest setback represents his fourth muscle injury this season and eighth overall since joining Chelsea in 2019. Tuchel will hope for a short injury lay-off with Porto up next in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday.
What was said?
"Christian did a sprint when he came back out for the second half and said that he felt his hamstring would not survive the game if he continued," Tuchel said in quotes published on Chelsea's Fifth Stand App.
"So we had to make the decision to substitute him right away,"
How is Pulisic doing this season?
Pulisic made it two goals in his last two games after tapping in the rebound after Sam Johnstone saved Marcos Alonso's free-kick in the first half. It followed a goal with his national team, having gone 20 games without a goal before that.
The forward's injuries have disrupted his rhythm this season and hurt the west Londoners, who have others attacking players like Timo Werner and Kai Havertz struggling to find the net.
The Blues' attacking problems could be solved by an in-form Pulisic, who scored seven goals in 11 games at the end of last season to help the club secure a top-four finish and an appearance in the FA Cup final.