Chelsea boss Alonso on Caicedo’s injury, Colwill’s fitness and defeat to Arsenal | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso refused to use the absence of Moises Caicedo and Levi Colwill from Chelsea’s starting line-up as an excuse following their 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.

Caicedo missed the game through injury, with Alonso admitting the midfielder returned too soon against Brighton having been forced off after coming off the bench.

“No, not longer term, but it’s about assessing the risk,” Alonso said when asked about Caicedo’s injury.

“Probably last week we took him too early and I don’t want to make the same mistake again.”

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Colwill was fit enough to be named among the substitutes but did not feature, leaving Chelsea without two of their key players against the reigning Premier League champions.

But Alonso insisted injuries are simply part of the challenge for every manager.

“It’s easy after the defeat to talk about the players that you are missing. I’m not going to go there,” he said.

“I’m happy with the players we have. For sure, you need to deal with injuries. For sure, Mikel has to deal with injuries.

“All the managers, we need to deal with suspension, with injuries. To have all the players available in all the games is impossible.

“But we need them because they are top players. And with them, we are a better team.”

Chelsea pushed Arsenal hard but ultimately suffered defeat, and Alonso believes his side must learn to be more clinical when competing against the Premier League’s best.

“We need to make it better, we need to learn from them, because this is the top level,” he said.

“When we have to play top level, we want to be as efficient and as accurate in all the phases of the game.

“But this is where we are, this is game three for us of this new start, this new phase that we are starting with Chelsea.

“But I’m happy with the spirit and the attitude from the players. They have given everything, they have tried and they fought really hard.”

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