Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel tipped to drop Romelu Lukaku again due to one Liverpool star

Tuchel on goalkeeper selection

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Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku should be left out of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final starting XI against Liverpool, according to Gabriel Agbonlahor. Lukaku sat on the bench for Chelsea’s 2-0 Champions League last-16 first leg win over Lille on Tuesday. And Agbonlahor doesn’t think he should come back into the team at Wembley.

Lukaku is Chelsea’s record signing following his £97.5million return from Inter Milan last summer.

But his first season back at Stamford Bridge has clearly not gone to plan.

Lukaku has just five Premier League goals to his name in 17 appearances this term.

The Belgian was mocked following last weekend’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace after it emerged he only touched the ball seven times in the entirety of the match.

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Former Aston Villa captain Agbonlahor believes Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has had Lukaku’s number whenever they have come up against each other in the past.

And therefore he would continue to leave the forward out of the team.

“I don’t see Lukaku starting on Sunday because he’s been very poor against Van Dijk whenever he’s played against him,” Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT.

“Van Dijk has had him in his pocket, so I think he’ll try mix it up and play [Kai] Havertz again on Sunday.”

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Asked if it appears Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel doesn’t fancy Lukaku, Agbonlahor said: “I think that could be the way it’s going at the moment.

“I think even when he’s been playing he doesn’t look like the Inter Milan Lukaku that we saw last season. Maybe they’re not playing to his strengths.

“Let’s not forget Reece James is not in the side, and [Ben] Chilwell, they’d been finding him since he’s been there.

“Maybe it could be something in the summer where Chelsea think to themselves ‘do you know what? Maybe we could cut our losses, sell him and try and bring someone else in’.

Havertz has thrived in recent weeks, adding a winner in the Club World Cup final to his crucial goal in last season’s Champions League final.

The German says Lukaku is going through a similar situation to his first season at the club last term and has backed him to come through it.

Havertz told the Chelsea website: “I was not the first one in that situation, Rom is not the first one, and he will not be the last one. Sometimes it takes time and that’s it.

“The first season was not my best, but at the end I scored a very important goal in a Champions League final. It helped me a lot.

“If I hadn’t scored it, everybody would say ‘he’s so bad’ and ‘what a disastrous first season’.

“I would not say that to myself because I was 21 when I came, and it’s not easy at this age.

“I knew before I came it would take two or three years to adapt. Two seconds in one year changed the whole year for me. Small things can turn everything around.”

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