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Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger was sent off from the Chelsea training session by manager Thomas Tuchel after the German central defender clashed with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. The reported incident came in the wake of Chelsea's shock 5-2 loss to 19th place West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
The report, first publicized by The Daily Telegraph, said Rudiger was sent for an early bath by Chelsea boss Tuchel after the defender lunged into a hard tackle on teammate Kepa which resulted in the duo getting a bit physical with one another. Rudiger was reported to have apologized for the incident before heading home from the Cobham training ground.
English outlet The Athletic further reported that the duo had prior bad blood between them as there were hostile exchanges between the two men as they were on the bench during Chelsea's humiliating defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The defeat saw the Blues' top-four ambitions take a hit as Tottenham and Liverpool closed the gap on Chelsea to two points.
Tuchel urges his Chelsea side to deal with defeat
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel had urged his team to keep their cool and find a way to bounce back from their West Brom defeat. The defeat was the first loss for Thomas Tuchel since his appointment as Chelsea boss in January.
"We cannot lose our heads now and take away the trust we have in these players," Tuchel said. "It was the moment after the game to be honest, be calm and to tell everybody to breathe."
"This will be a hard evening for everybody. We had completely different plans for how to start this match day so we have to accept it now, it's our first loss together. It's important to find a way to deal with it together."
Chelsea took the lead against West Brom before the half-hour mark with Christian Pulisic rebounding home from a parried Marcos Alonso free-kick. Two minutes later Thiago Silva was sent off for a second bookable offense and proceedings headed south for the London side. Two late first-half goals and three more after the interval saw Sam Allardyce's men clinch their first away win since January.
Chelsea face Porto next in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday and Thomas Tuchel will be hoping to restore harmony to his side to get the job done.
