Levi Colwill of Chelsea applauds the fans after winning the Premier League 2026/27 match between Chelsea FC and Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge on August 30, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Levi Colwill of Chelsea (Image: Getty Images)
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Xabi Alonso has played down fears over Levi Colwill’s fitness but admitted the Chelsea defender is managing ‘little things’.
Colwill was taken off in the final 14 minutes of last night’s madcap Carabao Cup tie against Leeds United, with the Blues 4-3 up and en route to a 6-3 victory.
That came against the backdrop of him playing the first two Premier League games of the season before being subbed off against Brighton and then left on the bench for the defeat to Arsenal, with 20-year-old rookie Josh Acheampong called up instead.
Blues boss Alonso admitted on Sunday Colwill, who has captained Chelsea twice this season, had ‘a little thing during the week’ and quizzed on the decision to replace him last night the Spaniard struck a similar tone saying: ‘It's just some little things that he's having, but we don't expect that this is an injury."
Whether that leaves the centre back with enough time to recover for the visit of Hull City on Saturday afternoon remains to be seen – as the does the availability of several other front-line players.
Moises Caicedo, Marco Palestra and Jordan Henderson are all injured at present with Caicedo yet to play a competitive minute for a team in desperate need of options in central midfield.
Henderson is yet to recover from the broken arm he sustained at the World Cup while Palestra, who did well in pre-season after his summer move from Atalanta, pulled up with an injury before the start of the campaign.
Meanwhile Alonso has plenty to think about in terms of squad depth, having made big changes to his starting line-up for the Leeds match his side was poor in the first half and trailed 2-0 just after the break.
They only picked up when the likes of Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer, Reece James and Petro Neto were introduced at half-time.
Alonso said: “I will have a deeper assessment about how I can help players that are not playing that much, to have a better impact, to have a better feeling, and today, it was difficult for them.
“Maybe I made it too difficult because it's a strong side. But overall, you need to react. You need to take decisions, and the impact was good from the players that came on.
“I need to take my own blame and my own responsibility on the things that happen. I need to be able to help them better, for sure, so they are not responsible.”
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