“We will check” – Xabi Alonso cast doubt over Chelsea’s strongest team for first game

Xabi Alonso has given his Premier League press conference, and he was asked how ready some of his World Cup players are to playing.

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Chelsea don’t play until Monday night, but their pre-match press conference was this afternoon, and new manager Xabi Alonso was asked about fitness and injury issues in his squad, especially with regards to the players who came back late from the World Cup.

He pointed out there were no new injuries – but did cast some doubt on players who had only trained for a week or so featuring against Fulham.

Alonso unsure on fitness of returning World Cup players

Lacroix (Photo by Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

“Let’s see, we will check [the fitness of the World Cup players], we will assess,” Alonso said.

“For sure, because of the World Cup they might need a little bit more time. They are selectable for the line-up.”

It’s a little coy, and to us it smells like we won’t see all of them in action right away. Enzo Fernandez in particular has not had any preseason minutes, and may be left out of the starting lineup. Valentin Barco is in the same boat, although he wouldn’t have been expected to start.

Maxence Lacroix may also miss out. He did play for an hour against Real Sociedad, but those were his only minutes since the World Cup.

In other news…

Talk of a Man City bid for Enzo Fernandez just won’t go away, even though Chelsea set a deadline which has now been passed±