"The situation is very serious" - Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says he'd 'push for' Premier League rule change amid COVID-19 crisis

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has called for the Premier League to allow five substitutions as teams are starting to lose multiple players due to COVID-19.

With multiple fixtures having already been postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks across various teams, the Chelsea boss believes that the Premier League must take the situation more seriously.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea's trip to Aston Villa, Tuchel said:

"I would love to push for five substitutions, because five substitutions were made to protect the players during a difficult period when Covid popped up. The situation is very serious, very demanding and very challenging. For the health of the players, if we decide to continue playing we should at least have five substitutions.

"It’s of course for us the same situation as for everyone else and we have concerns. We are not just football players and coaches, we are also fathers and family members so we are also concerned and have doubts and fears and uncertain situations which is not nice."

Chelsea themselves have multiple players unavailable due to having tested positive for COVID-19, with Kai Havertz, Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner all out for the foreseeable future.

Chelsea boss Tuchel not alone in speaking out about the COVID-19 crisis

Dean Smith joined the Chelsea boss in his concerns

Managers from across the Premier League have joined Tuchel in voicing their concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also reiterated the need for five substitutions in the Premier League, while Norwich City manager Dean Smith said in his pre-match press conference:

"The festive schedule is difficult normally but it is nigh on impossible at the moment to ask players to play twice in 48 hours. At the moment I don’t know how we are going to do it.

"We have had to push rehab forward and people are breaking down because of that, and it’s asking massive questions of everybody’s squads. It’s lunacy that we are having to play two games in 48 hours and there has got to be a question about the integrity of the competition when weakened teams are playing.

"We are in a dangerous situation now where we are risking the health and welfare of the players. Against Villa we had a player playing 90 minutes with a temperature of 38.4 degrees, which is not right."