Barcelona move closer to landing Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Thomas Tuchel has issued fitness updates on Chelsea duo Reece James and Marcos Alonso ahead of the match against Norwich City. The Premier League fixture will take place at Carrow Road on Thursday, where his side will be looking to build on their impressive display against Burnley.
Alonso missed the 4-0 win against the Clarets in the league after testing positive for Covid-19 in the build-up to the fixture. That has put the Blues in a bit of a pickle since Ben Chilwell is already out of contention for the remainder of this season. Tuchel has given an update on the Spaniard’s situation ahead of the clash against Norwich.
“Marcus is still ill, not very ill, but he still has some [Covid] symptoms and is absolutely not able to do training.”
James was seen to pick up a blow and was subbed off during the victory against Sean Dyche’s side. The incident was concerning for the fans since the defender had just recovered from a long-term setback. However, the academy graduate did say that he was okay after picking up the knock. The German boss has now provided more insight into the right wingback’s current fitness.
“The good thing is I think it makes a huge difference for Reece if he plays 65 or 70 minutes or 90 minutes which is now ideal because we have four days in between which should give us the possibility to play in Norwich. Of course, we have to take care and we cannot overuse him.”
Losing James would have been a massive blow for us as the 22-year-old has showcased in a short time how crucial he is to our team. The recent injury troubles with Cesar Azpilicueta, stemming from our Carabao Cup loss against Liverpool, has forced us to utilise the Englishman for more minutes than was probably intended.
Fortunately for us, we have some time to take care of the Englishman ahead of the match against Dean Smith’s side. Let’s hope that he will get adequate rest in the next few days to return to full fitness after the blow he suffered. As for Alonso, things are a bit more troublesome under the current circumstances.
After all, we do not have Chilwell in our ranks alongside Alonso. That really puts us in a precarious situation since we do not have any natural replacements in the squad. Saul Niguez deputized in that role in the previous fixture and did a solid job overall but over the season, the Spaniard, along with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Malang Sarr, haven’t really replicated Chilwell or Alonso’s attacking output down that flank- whenever they have had to deputize in that position.
It remains to be seen if Alonso can recover in time, although Tuchel’s words could indicate that the 31-year-old may not feature against the Canaries after all.
Luckily for us, we are not facing the most dangerous team in England right now. Sitting 20th in the PL table, Norwich have lost all of their last 5 games in all competitions. Alonso and James or not, they are a side we are expected to beat, after already having beaten them 7-0 in the league earlier this season.
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