Asked later about Cuti’s fitness levels – and if it was a ‘rushed decision’ for a big game – Thomas added: “I’m very aware of trying to be able to take the best possible decisions. Of course, in the end, I’ll get a lot of information from medical staff, performance staff but in the end, it’s always on me. If a player breaks down, it’s on me. It’s not on the medical staff, it’s always on me. I take decisions, I get all the information and then I need to take a difficult choice or a brave choice or an easy choice or decision. So, that’s it. If he was fit enough, he would have been involved Wednesday. So, he’s ready to be involved tomorrow and let’s see how much.”
Radu Dragusin, Yves Bissouma, James Maddison, Archie Gray, Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, Kota Takai, and Ben Davies remain sidelined.