The pressure is on, the stakes are high, and so are the statements. Ahead of the crucial showdown with Manchester City, Chelsea (and Liverpool) are already making excuses why they are currently 10 (and 11) points away from the current Premier League champion. And the reason is – Covid. It all started with Virgil van Dijk’s statements which were picked up by Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel. For the first time since taking over the Blues, the German tactician is under real pressure to deliver the Premier League title and a possible defeat in today’s match with the Citizens will almost but end his title quest. So, using Covid as an excuse is always a good thing.Manchester City in the Premier League in December: WWWWWWWPlayer of the Month: Raheem Sterling Manager of the Month: Pep Guardiola 🧹 pic.twitter.com/HWimK6bzOG— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 14, 2022 First, it was both Klopp and van Dijk who suggested that City is ahead because they had fewer injuries and corona cases in December than Liverpool, and Tuchel was more than happy to agree with that and add a few more things.“So far the biggest difference in the season as far as I’m concerned is they dealt better with injuries and the Covid situation. Maybe it is lucky, maybe they do it better, but they have fewer injuries to key players, fewer days out and weeks where they miss them. They did not suffer from Covid like we did. This is a huge difference. We had some draws this season that were unnecessary. If you have your full squad you create a certain atmosphere for everybody that pushes everybody to the edge and you need to be on your edge and at the very highest level if you want to compete with Man City. They are the benchmark, the best team in England right now. This is something we have to admit realistically. We don’t think a lot in scenarios, ‘what happens if’. Let’s play the game. I am always ready for a good fight but also very realistic. If you look back to the last games, when we have the full squad feel good and are in a good shape, we are always up for a good fight with Man City. We are always there to push them to the limit and ask some questions maybe they don’t like maybe to answer” said Tuchel.🥇 Mason Mount has played a direct hand in more Premier League goals than any other player from Chelsea and Man City this season (12)🤔 Would he start for Man City? Click the image below for our take ahead of #MCICHE— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) January 15, 2022 For City coach Guardiola, there are always reasons why other teams are making excuses when they are not better than City. Before Covid, it was the money City’s owners have invested in the team, now it’s Covid and injuries.”If they believe it’s the reason why then maybe. Maybe. Sometimes it’s the money that we have, sometimes it’s Covid. I don’t know. Maybe. We had injuries, we had Covid. Maybe we don’t say which players — out of respect to those players the club don’t do it — but we had a lot of players and backroom staff with Covid and at the beginning of the season we had a lot of tough injuries with our players. So what can I say? If they believe we were lucky, okay we were lucky. Thank you” said Guardiola.Finally it ends: Lukaku apologizes to fans and TuchelThe Spaniard is referring to the 11 positive players before the FA Cup game with Swindon, and the club hasn’t had any updates about those players, which means nobody knows who are they and if they will be available for the Chelsea match. After enjoying success against Guardiola last season, which culminated with the most important game – the Champions League final, Tuchel has lost the first match between two teams in October, when the Citizens won at Stamford Bridge and opened the gap which is not 10 points. Tuchel needs some more last season’s magic to win in Manchester.As far as the fact about Covid is concerned, Manchester Evening news took the time to test Tuchel’s claims. Apparently, in the last month, his team has played five league games, and in two of them — against Brighton and Aston Villa — he has also had 11 senior starters and nine senior players on the bench, a testament to his squad, which truly is huge. In the other three games, he has been reduced to 18, 18 and 16 by a combination of positive Covid tests and injuries. That means in the last month, Chelsea have had an average of 18.4 senior players in their first-team squad, pretty close to the full complement, and not once have they had to start with a youth player.Rules must apply for all – the Premier League Covid ‘heat’ is not dying downCity have also not had to throw any kids in during the same period, but their bench has been far more depleted, and their options to rotate are similarly restricted, by a lack of players due to Covid and injury. They have averaged 17.6 senior players in the squad since, and players like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish were absent for what appear to have been Covid reasons, although City have refused to confirm that.PREMIER LEAGUE – Round 22FridayBrighton – Crystal Palace 1-1 (0-0)/Andersen 87 og – Gallagher 69/Saturday15.30: (1.75) Man.City (3.70) Chelsea (5.40)18.00: (3.05) Burnley (3.25) Leicester (2.55)18.00: (2.30) Wolverhampton (3.15) Southampton (3.60)18.00: (3.80) Norwich (3.50) Everton (2.10)18.00: (2.15) Newcastle (3.50) Watford (3.60)20.30: (3.20) Aston Villa (3.35) Man.Utd. (2.40)Sunday17.00: (1.70) West Ham (3.90) Leeds (5.50)17.00: (1.33) Liverpool (5.40) Brentford (11.0)19.30: (2.60) Tottenham (3.25) Arsenal (2.95)***odds are subject to change