'I played 10 metres behind the real defenders!': Thomas Tuchel jokes that he would have left his team-mates to deal with Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane if he had faced either of the deadly strikers

• Thomas Tuchel played in the German second and third tiers as a sweeper
• The Chelsea boss said he would avoid big players and let others do the dirty work
• Romelu Lukaku goes into the match on fire, while Harry Kane is struggling
• If the Blues win at Tottenham, they could leapfrog Manchester United into first

Thomas Tuchel joked he would have left defending against Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane to others if he had to face either of the star strike duo.

Chelsea manager Tuchel, a former defender in Germany's second and third tiers before injury forced him into a premature retirement, said the prolific pair would have been out of his league had he been tasked with trying to stop them.

Lukaku and Kane, two of the leading strikers in world football, go head-to-head in one of the subplots of Tottenham's clash with Chelsea on Sunday.

Asked which one he would prefer to face, Tuchel said: 'In my times defending I was a sweeper, so I played ten metres behind the real defenders so they did the dirty work.

'In that time I was the guy to push them into [going] against Romelu and once the ball is free, I would come and steal it and get all the applause from the public which was not around because there was not a lot of people watching the games where I played.

'Harry Kane drops a lot to a number ten position and I would have liked it because I could have given the job to the number sixes and the midfielders.

'That was not my league, that was not my league. They would have gone past me easily so it's good that other guys do this.'

Comparing the two 28-year-olds Tuchel said: 'There's one big similarity: they score decisive goals. 'They love scoring and they always have scored no matter the competition.

'Apart from this they are very different players, different styles of play.

'And we need to be very focused if Harry Kane plays, on how to defend, where to close him down, when you close the deliveries down.

'Once he has the ball he's one of the most dangerous guys in the world to finish attacks, he's fantastic in conversion.

'And there are some players around him who deliver well, and can also be decisive.

'Let's see if Heung-min Son can play, because he can also be decisive.

'But we have also some guys around Romelu who are able to serve him and deliver good performances.

'In the end it's a team effort, and it will always be like this.'