Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed that winger Christian Pulisic sustained a hamstring injury in Saturday’s 5–2 loss to West Bromwich Albion.
The American international scored his first Premier League goal since December—only his second league goal of the season—when he jumped on the rebound of a Marcos Alonso free-kick to give Chelsea a 1–0 lead in the 27th minute. But with Chelsea trailing 2–1 and down to 10 men at the halftime break, Pulisic sprinted onto the field to begin his warmup only to clutch his hamstring and return immediately to the bench in front of an incredulous Tuchel.
“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 told the club website on Sunday. “So we had to make the decision to substitute him straight away.”
In the immediate aftermath of the match, Tuchel didn’t mention the hamstring problem nor any timeframe, but more information on the severity of the injury is expected in the club’s pre-match press conference on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinal against Portuguese champions Porto.
Pulisic has dealt with a flurry of minor injuries throughout the year, missing the first three games of the season due to another hamstring injury. The midfielder has also struggled for playing time since Tuchel took over in January, starting only twice in the Premier League for his former Borussia Dortmund manager.
The loss to West Brom at home was Tuchel’s first defeat in 15 games since taking over at Chelsea.
