Fellow defender Marcos Alonso has impressed in the role during the first three Premier League games and even scored a free kick against Crystal Palace on the opening day of the season.
Chilwell, who played a huge part in Chelsea’s Champions League triumph last season, missed the majority of the club’s pre-season due to his participation in England’s Euro 2020 campaign. He has since been dropped from the national team squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Murphy believes the Englishman, who is yet to feature for Chelsea this season, will soon find himself back in the Blues starting line up. ‘I think you have to give it context. He played in a lot of Chelsea’s big games last season, that says to me he is Tuchel’s left back,’ he told TalkSPORT.‘Now the reason I don’t think he’s in the starting line up at the moment is because he was away training and because he’s got Alonso fit and raring to go, he’s put him in for the first few games.
‘But I agree with Gareth [Southgate] that Chilwell will be back in the Chelsea squad, he’s better than Alonso. He’s probably not as much as a goal threat, although he will get you a goal and is good going forward, but I think all round he’s better, quicker, fitter.
‘I would imagine Tuchel has been communicating with him daily and has told him to build his fitness up and he’ll be back very soon, if not the next game. So I don’t worry for him at all.’
Earlier this week the German boss explained why the 24-year-old hadn’t yet featured for his side this season.
‘For Ben Chilwell, it’s very easy, he came back with the latest group,’ Tuchel said.
‘When he arrived Marcos Alonso had five weeks in his legs from pre-season. He played the first competitive matches after a fantastic pre-season. He was simply way more ready physically which was natural because of the training session and his fantastic games.
‘He played the Super Cup final and three Premier League games. Also, we only have three substitutions allowed and this is a huge problem.
‘Chilly needed his time in training to adapt to the intensity. He is ready now but now wasn’t the time to push him into the cold water.’ Chelsea continue their Premier League season on 11 September at home to Aston Villa hoping to continue their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Leave a Reply