Wolves manager Bruno Lage will miss Saturday's trip to Chelsea after testing positive for Covid-19. The West Midlands side confirmed the case ahead of their pre-match press conference, with a blow coming the way of the Blues' opponents.
Chelsea currently sit in third place with just four matches of the Premier League season left to play. It would take a significant shift for Thomas Tuchel's men to miss out on a place in next season's Champions League but following last weekend's loss to relegation-threatened Everton, he will be taking nothing for granted.
But the Blues are not without problems of their own. Ahead of the clash, it was confirmed that Jorginho, N'Golo Kante, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell were all set to miss out through injury.. The blows will be a particular concern with the FA Cup final clash with Liverpool just over a week away.
READ MORE: Chelsea sale: What Roman Abramovich's statement means now for Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital
Tuchel also touched on the Blues' recent rocky form and suggested that the players may well have been affected by the ongoing takeover of the club, telling his pre-match press conference: "It surely affects the team but I cannot say to which degree. Toni (Rudiger) of course leaves us during the period we are sanctioned and we cannot fight.
"It is proven that has an effect and this decision has an impact on the dressing room. He is a huge part. The situation regarding the future of every individual is not clear because there are no talks for anybody.
"It is important to not use it as an excuse. We accept but there is another 100% to reach and this is our level. The situation is coming from big knockout matches, a busy schedule and going back to the league to play for points and maybe the team had the feeling we had not so much to win or lose and lose some edge and this can be enough to lose matches. There are many reasons and perhaps this is normal and normal is hard to accept for us."
Prior to Tuchel's own press conference, Wolves confirmed that Lage would miss out, Tweeting from their official club account: "Bruno Lage will miss this weekend's trip to Chelsea after testing positive for Covid-19. Wishing our head coach a swift return!"
Wolves lost 3-0 to Brighton at Molineux last time out and appear to have hit an end-of-season slump. This is something that Tuchel will no doubt looking to capitalise on.
