Xabi Alonso admits Chelsea struggle to maintain quality over course of full game
Xabi Alonso admits Chelsea struggle to maintain quality over course of full game
Reece James is left out as Moises Caicedo makes his first Premier League start of the season for Chelsea against Bournemouth.
The Cherries’ visit to Stamford Bridge represents the first Chelsea first match in 22 days since the 3-0 defeat at Brentford before the international break.
Joao Pedro missed that game as well as international duty with Brazil, with Standard Sport revealing that he had seen a specialist in London to try to speed up his recovery from a knee injury.
At his press conference on Friday, Alonso said of Joao Pedro and fellow injury doubts Caicedo, James, Cole Palmer and Marco Palestra: “They are ready to go tomorrow.”
Despite that, though, James is left out of the squad altogether, with Palestra on the bench and Caicedo, Palmer and Joao Pedro all in the starting XI.
Jamie Gittens is unavailable and expected to be out a number of weeks after picking up an ankle injury with the England Under-21s that led him to leave the stadium on crutches following a game against Kazakhstan.
In recent games, Alonso has switched between a 3-4-2-1 formation and a 4-2-3-1, not only within games but in his starting lineups.
Alonso has not handed much game time to Geovany Quenda or Estevao in Chelsea’s first five Premier League games.
Chelsea XI vs Bournemouth: Martinez; Acheampong, Lacroix, Colwill; Chavarria, Henderson, Caicedo, Neto; Palmer, Rogers; Joao Pedro
Subs: Penders, Fofana, Gusto, Hato, Palestra, Lavia, Quenda, Estevao, Welbeck
Injured: Gittens
Venue: Stamford Bridge
TV channel: Match not televised in the UK due to the 3pm blackout