Mauricio Pochettino has not chosen to use Ben Chilwell from the start today, but he’s still delighted to have his left back fit and available an on the bench.
We feared the worst a week ago after we hear that the left back had a knee problem, but to our relief it turned out to be a contact injury rather than another internal rupture.
Speaking to the club site ahead of today’s game, Pochettino explained how delighted he was to have the England international available:
“Ben Chilwell is an important player so it’s good to have him back. We didn’t want to take the risk of starting him, plus he will go away with the national team, but having him on the bench is a very good option for us.”
Having rested him from the start, Pochettino will be praying that Gareth Southgate doesn’t overload the full back on England duty. It feels likely that he gets half an hour or so’s action today, and then hopefully not more than 90 minutes over the course of England’s two games in the coming fortnight.
