Chelsea travel to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday in an awkward spell. A promising run of results has stalled, and two of their most important attackers are unavailable.
A home defeat that carries a cost
Chelsea lost 2-0 at home to Tottenham on 24 October, ending a run of two straight league wins. Those wins were 5-1 against Bournemouth and 2-0 at Everton. [1] reports that a mistake by goalkeeper Mike Penders swung the game in Spurs’ favour, which turned a contest that had been level into a loss.
The bigger issue is what the afternoon cost Alonso’s squad. Cole Palmer was sent off and is suspended for the cup tie at Liverpool, according to the same BBC Sport report. Losing Palmer for a knockout match away from home removes one of the team’s main creative outlets. Alonso has to rebuild the attacking balance of his side in a single midweek, and the Tottenham loss leaves little room for experimenting without consequences.
It also interrupts a decent autumn. Chelsea had won back-to-back league matches by a combined seven goals to two before the Spurs defeat. The result is a setback, but it does not erase that recent evidence of what the team can do.
Squad news: Pedro out, Palestra tipped
Striker João Pedro missed the Tottenham match. [2] quotes Alonso saying the absence was down to fluid on his thigh. The same outlet reported that the injury became public through Fantasy Premier League selections by accounts linked to people inside the game, before the match took place.
The outlook has not improved. Ahead of the Liverpool tie, [3] reports that Alonso said Pedro is probably out and will not return until after the November international break. Chelsea will therefore be without their first-choice striker for several matches.
There is one piece of good news on the fringes. [4], citing Evening Standard pre-match reports, says Marco Palestra is likely to start at wing-back against Liverpool. That is a rumour rather than confirmed team news. Palestra has made three Premier League substitute appearances totalling 44 minutes and is still waiting for his first competitive start. Pedro Neto remains the first-choice right wing-back in league games, so a cup start would be a chance for Palestra to show what he offers.
The Liverpool tie
The fixture has an extra storyline: Liverpool are Alonso’s former club, as [3] notes in its preview. Beyond that, the match is a test of depth. With Palmer suspended and Pedro probably unavailable, the lineup is likely to look very different from the one that lost to Spurs.
The cup format is a useful place to find out who can fill those gaps. A knockout tie leaves no margin for a slow start, but it also lets Alonso rotate and judge players who have had few minutes. Palestra is the most obvious example, since he has not started a competitive game for the club.
The question for Chelsea is whether the squad has enough quality around the missing names. The late-season benefits of a deep group are easy to talk about, and a trip to Liverpool is a demanding setting in which to check them.
What it means
Chelsea sit fifth in the Premier League with 13 points from 8 games, with four wins, one draw and three defeats. They have scored 17 goals and conceded 15, which describes a side that scores freely but is not secure at the back. The form line, newest first, reads L, W, W, L, D, and the two defeats in it were 0-3 at Brentford and 0-2 against Tottenham. Chelsea have won only when the attack has produced several goals.
The next league fixture is at home to Manchester United on 31 October. It asks whether Chelsea can recover quickly from the Spurs defeat and the Liverpool trip, and whether the defence can avoid the sort of error attributed to Penders against Tottenham. The squad questions also carry over, because João Pedro’s absence extends beyond that match. Palmer’s suspension applies to the cup tie, so how Chelsea cope without both players will say much about the options Alonso has to lean on.
The site’s forecast for the United match locks 24 hours before kick-off, so no prediction is published yet. Until then, the evidence points to a team with real attacking quality at home but little protection when key players are missing.
Sources
- BBC Sport: Alonso has new headaches at Chelsea in big week bbc.co.uk ↩
- BBC Sport: Can clubs stop team news leaking out through FPL picks? bbc.co.uk ↩
- BBC Sport: Alonso to celebrate Chelsea goals against Liverpool bbc.co.uk ↩
- Football Italia: Palestra tipped to make first Chelsea start but faces Premier League concern football-italia.net ↩
