Thomas Tuchel confirms two Chelsea starters vs Barnsley

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that N'Golo Kante and Hakim Ziyech will start the FA Cup fifth round tie against Barnsley.

Kante has played only 31 minutes of first-team football since recovering from a hamstring injury picked up in the first week of January.

He has featured off the bench in recent league games and Tuchel has now confirmed that the Frenchman will start against the Tykes.

Meanwhile, Hakim Ziyech is another confirmed starter for the Blues. The Moroccan is set to return to action after three league games.

He started the 0-0 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers last month, but has since been either left out of the squad or stayed on the bench.

The Blues are aiming to go unbeaten for the sixth game. They previously beat the Tykes 6-0 in the Carabao Cup third round in September 2020.

Prior to that, they met the Championship outfit in the 2007/08 FA Cup where they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the quarter-final stage.