Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel insists Hakim Ziyech is in his plans.

Ziyech, who endured an injury-disrupted campaign last season, faces a battle for regular game-time, but Tuchel believes he could be a key player.

He said: “Any partnership could be very promising when Hakim plays on a high level. On his level.

“I think he was very promising in pre-season. He had some very good matches last season, also some difficulties and hard decisions from me to take. But the pre-season was very promising and pretty impressive from him.

“The attitude which he arrived here was absolutely the right attitude to grow and to show personality. This is what he did. He was fantastic from day one. He was decisive in every single friendly game we played and he was decisive in the first competitive game, the [Super Cup] final against Villarreal."

Ziyech is in contention to feature against Arsenal on Sunday after recovering from a shoulder injury suffered in the Super Cup. But Tuchel insists he will not take any risks.

He added: “Very unfortunately he got injured so now we need to take care of it because on one side we are very happy he is back on the pitch, on the other a shoulder injury can be a bit tricky.

“Tomorrow [Saturday] is decisive for him. We will see how far it can go. With a shoulder injury you can still run and keep your fitness so you don't lose too much of that.

“Once he gets the green light and feels totally free hopefully he can find his performance from this season very quickly because he is very important for us."