Chelsea’s win over Everton on Saturday at Goodison Park to open the season was certainly welcome, but it was not a stellar performance, just “okay” according to the head coach, and show a lot of family issues from last season esp. with the attack largely ineffective.
As it turns out, there’s at least one good reason for that. Two in fact. Neither Reece James nor Ben Chilwell were fully fit for the game, which, as we learned last season, can be a huge problem for a system built around the play of full-backs.
“Today we played with Ben Chilwell, who for me was not 100% ready to start, but the situation with Marcos Alonso. [soon to leave for Barcelona] and the late signing of Marc Cucurella made it necessary for us to take a risk.
“Reece [James] He’s also struggling to be fully fit at the moment, so on the right we didn’t have enough full-backs to create a bit more freedom for the inside players.”
-Thomas Tuchel; source: Evening Standard
While James will presumably reach full fitness sooner rather than later, and perhaps get some extra practice, Chilwell’s fitness is something to keep a close eye on. As much as he’s come back, he’s coming off a major injury that even with modern medical techniques and rehabilitation can have a lasting, career-changing effect. The fact that Chelsea have overspent on another left-back further underlines this situation, although Marc Cucurella can also fill in at centre-back.
Our next game will be against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur. Whoever wins the battle of the full-backs could only get three important points.