It’s a very busy first week of the season for Chelsea, with three games in the span of just seven days, Monday through Sunday. Thankfully, the middle game of the three is just a cup game against lower-league opposition, giving us an obvious opportunity to rotate the squad and manage the early workload while giving everyone some minutes.
No opponent should ever be underestimated of course, but we should expect any reasonable lineup to be able to take care of business in this match-up.
Presumably, Xabi
Alonso has got rotation on his mind as well, though this exercise, as ever, isn’t about what the manager’s going to go, but about what you would do if you were the manager.
And we certainly have a multitude of choices, even with several players involved in potential transfers, such as Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson — though officially they are both available, as is Enzo Fernández, as confirmed by Alonso.
“Enzo, yes we expect him to be involved. He is training really well, he’s a good professional, and he will be involved.”
-Xabi Alonso; source: Chelsea FC
Alonso did however confirm that Moisés Caicedo and Marco Palestra remain out with whatever (minor) concerns also kept them out on Monday. Jordan Henderson, Mamadou Sarr, and Emmanual Emegha are also carrying injuries or fitness concerns. On the plus side, Wesley Fofana is available as his suspension only applies to Premier League games (he has one more to go there).
Choose wisely.
(Live results)
