Chelsea took a risk by staying short in midfield, and it’s already costing them with news of another injury in the middle.
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Xabi Alonso loves to keep injury news to himself, and it’s quite hilarious that this week we’ve been getting more information from national team coaches then we are from our own manager.
We heard about Joao Pedro’s issue before Alonso said anything, and now we’ve got more devastating news – Thomas Tuchel has just confirmed in his England press conference that Reece James hasn’t been called up because he’s hurt.
James ruled out by Tuchel
It’s not clear how bad it is, but even just missing tonight’s game is a huge blow. With Enzo Fernandez sold; Jordan Henderson and Moises Caicedo also hurt, the only two fit senior central midfielders are Romeo Lavia and Valentin Barco. Not really who you want in a two man midfield against Brentford.
The decision to not do the Enzo deal earlier and the failure to sign a replacement is already doing huge damage to our season and we’re just a few weeks in.
Tonight’s game is going to be tough. But if we stay optimistic, it’s hopefully a very minor problem for James, who then gets three full weeks off to recover.
Thomas Tuchel confirms Reece James' omission is due to injury…
'First, before we did the nominations in the last month, I thought we have a lot more of a continuation of the World Cup squad but then a lot of members of our World Cup squad: Reece [James], Dean… https://t.co/RhAD5TOSJj
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) September 18, 2026
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Xabi Alonso’s predicted team for tonight is forced into some injury changes, and faces a tough battle against Brentford.
