Thomas Tuchel has hailed the character of Daniel Farke and stood by the Norwich City chief's handling of Billy Gilmour, challenging the Chelsea loanee to force his way into the Canaries team.

Farke was the second-team coach at Borussia Dortmund previously when Tuchel was enjoying success at senior level with the Bundesliga giants.

It’s thought the relationship of the German duo was key to City securing the much-hyped talent of 20-year-old midfielder Gilmour on a season-long loan.

The midfielder has played more minutes for Scotland than he has in the Premier League so far this season and has stayed on the bench for four of the last five games.

The youngster will not be available as Norwich face his parent club tomorrow, in a clash of top against bottom, but Tuchel has dismissed early talk of the loan being cancelled in January.

“In general, I love Billy, I’ve always loved him. He was a big factor - maybe not in the full spotlight - for last season when we came here,” said the Chelsea boss, who took over in January and led the Blues to Champions League glory.

“He decided to go for a better chance to have some minutes and we thought that was important.

“First of all, I want him to perform. It’s more or less the same for how you make it into our team, by pure performance.

“If you decide to go on loan then it is as simple as that and I don’t mean to be harsh, you need to perform, you need to be on the pitch.

“You have to be the top player, no matter where you go, if you want to make it back here and improve your status.

“He is our player, we love Billy, we are aware of what he can do but changing club is always a risk and a new step.

“It can also be a positive to overcome adversity. Now is not the time to talk about coming back, it’s time to fight for his place and show what he can do.

“We trust him that he can play a role and of course nobody is obliged to play our players. No coach in the world will leave his best players out, so that’s what he needs to prove, that Norwich is a better team with him in.

“I trust that he can do it and hopefully he does not lose this trust in himself and can turn things around again.”

Tuchel and Farke were at Dortmund together for 18 months and both moved on in May 2017, when Farke joined Norwich, with Tuchel going on to enjoy success at Paris Saint-Germain from the summer of 2018.

“I like him a lot. First of all as a person, he is a very nice and humble person, he was coach of the second team when we were at Dortmund,” Tuchel continued.

“It was very nice to talk with him and watch training sessions with each other and have a close exchange because we would take about players and sometimes use his players during international breaks.

“He’s a very, very good manager in terms of people management. I would have liked to be a player under him because I can imagine that he gives you a lot of confidence and a lot of trust.

“I’m super happy that he has made it at the highest level and twice to the Premier League with the same club, which shows that they trust him and don’t only judge him on results, which is a very good thing, it speaks for itself.

“I hope that we can have the better end tomorrow, we will do everything to win against him, but he is doing a fantastic job and hopefully he knows this.”

Tuchel also confirmed that strikers Romelu Lukaku (ankle) and Timo Werner (hamstring) will miss the game due to injuries picked up during Wednesday night's 4-0 home win over Malmo in the Champions League group stages.

USA star Christian Pulisic is also not ready to return from injury yet and Hakim Ziyech is available but is still recovering confidence from a shoulder problem.

NCFC EXTRA: Farke on Cantwell Chelsea absence