Romelu Lukaku dropped from Chelsea squad for Liverpool clash: Reports

Chelsea's record-signing Romelu Lukaku will not be part of the Blues' squad for the crucial Premier League clash against Liverpool, according to The Athletic. The Belgian made the headlines for the wrong reasons earlier this week following a controversial interview.

During a chat with Sky Italy, Lukaku admitted he was unhappy with the current situation at Chelsea. The striker pointed to the change in the system deployed by manager Thomas Tuchel as a concern.

"Physically I am fine. But I'm NOT happy with the situation at Chelsea. Tuchel has chosen to play with another system. I won't give up, I'll be professional. I am not happy with the situation but I am professional and I can't give up now".

Chelsea boss Tuchel reacts to controversial comments from Lukaku

In the wake of the controversial interview, Tuchel admitted it wasn't something that would help the morale of the Chelsea squad. During the pre-match press conference ahead of the meeting with Liverpool, Tuchel stated:

"We don't like it of course. It brings noise that we don't need and it's not helpful. We don't want to make more out of it than it actually is. It is easy to take lines out of context, shorten lines, make headlines and then realise later that it is not so bad."

Now, as per the report from David Ornstein of The Athletic, Chelsea will not call up Lukaku to the squad for their hugely-significant game against Liverpool. The Blues currently trail leaders Manchester City by 11 points in the Premier League.

Should they win, the gap would close to eight points, but a defeat at Stamford Bridge would result in them dropping to third behind Sunday's visitors Liverpool.

Notably, Lukaku has scored in each of his last two outings for Chelsea. It will be interesting to see if Chelsea can cope with his absence against Liverpool.

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