Head coach Thomas Tuchel has suggested that he had little choice but to omit Romelu Lukaku from the Chelsea squad for Sunday's Premier League fixture against Liverpool.
Earlier this week, Lukaku revealed that he was unhappy with life at Stamford Bridge, comments which left Tuchel angry and surprised when he spoke to the media a day later.
The Blues boss has subsequently dropped the 28-year-old for the important encounter with the rivals, despite the Belgian having netted in successive games.
Nevertheless, Tuchel feels that he has taken the only decision available to him in order to avoid further distractions.
Speaking to The 5th Stand, Tuchel said: "It became too noisy, and so close to the match. So I decided to protect the preparation of the match and that is why he is out.
"Of course we have spoken, we have spoken twice and he has spoken to the lead players and after that we had to realise it's too close to the match and it's too big. We need to protect the preparation of the match. We have a big match to play and we need full focus, which is anyway hard to get even with this decision, but it is, in my opinion, easier.
"For sure it was a difficult decision to take but in my opinion it is the one to take."
Chelsea head into the contest holding a one-point advantage over Liverpool in the Premier League standings.
Darren Plant
