The Chelsea boss has provided a team news update ahead of Leeds United’s Carabao Cup trip to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Chelsea defender Levi Colwill has recovered from a knock in time to face Leeds United, manager Xabi Alonso has confirmed.
Leeds head to Stamford Bridge for their Carabao Cup third round clash on Wednesday night. They are looking to continue their unbeaten start to the campaign while hosts Chelsea suffered their first defeat against Arsenal last weekend.
Centre-back Colwill was on the bench for that game after reporting a minor issue in the build-up. Moises Caicedo also missed out while £47million right-back Marco Palestra is yet to feature this season.
Levi Colwill is available for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash vs Leeds United.placeholder image
Levi Colwill is available for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash vs Leeds United.
Asked about Colwill’s availability for Wednesday, Alonso said: “He's okay. He's okay for tomorrow. [Palestra and Caicedo] still not ready to go. Not the moment to take too early a risk. So we go game by game with them and it's too early.”
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Alonso also confirmed longer-term absentees Jordan Henderson and Emmanuel Emegha would sit out Wednesday’s clash. The Chelsea boss still has a wealth of options at his disposal after a big-spending summer in which almost £350m was splashed.
The London club have bags of attacking quality but have come under some scrutiny for lacking an edge. Alonso was asked whether he believed the squad needed to be ‘meaner’ ahead of what’s likely to be a feisty affair against an old rival.
“We want to compete,” he said . “I don't know, 'meaner', or whatever, but we want to compete because that's the best way to win games. You need to adapt to compete and it comes in two ways. It comes in the football way and it comes in the spirit and mentality side and in everything we can get better.
“Yeah, because they need that tomorrow night against Leeds, don't they? Because Leeds is going to be quite a rivalry game. Tomorrow we are expecting a very, very intense game, very tough, very many situations of duels, but we need to try to cope with that, find solutions and know that this is going to be an important game tomorrow.”