Chelsea Arrive At Anfield With A Problem They Can’t Hide

Xabi Alonso’s injury list has handed Liverpool a gift ahead of the Carabao Cup tie at Anfield. Joao Pedro is facing a spell out with a thigh problem, and on the evidence of the last couple of matches, Chelsea without him look like a different, much blunter side.

A pattern that is hard to ignore

The Brazilian missed the defeat to Tottenham after picking up the injury in training, and Chelsea lost 2-0. They had already been beaten by Brentford without him in the side. Two games, two losses, and a clear dip in attacking threat both times. That is not a coincidence anymore, it is a trend Alonso cannot explain away.

Alonso’s early update was cautious. He said there was swelling and that the club needed scans to understand the scale of the problem, adding that it was frustrating but that the team had to push on regardless. Days on, the picture is sharper, and it is not good news for Chelsea. He confirmed the thigh issue will keep Joao Pedro out for “a few weeks”, refusing to put an exact number on it.

Bad time for a Carabao Cup trip to Merseyside

There is never a good moment to lose your most incisive forward, but doing it right before a trip to Anfield is particularly unkind. Morgan Rogers was asked to lead the line against Spurs and struggled to make any real impact, leaving Chelsea short of presence and sharpness in the final third.

Alonso insists he still has options, naming Emmanuel Emegha, Danny Welbeck and Estevao as the alternatives who will travel. His message was straightforward: squads are built for exactly this kind of situation, and losing one player, even an important one, should not be a crisis.

Liverpool should sense an opening

That is the theory anyway. In practice, squad depth tends to get talked up right until the moment it is actually tested, and Chelsea’s recent form without Joao Pedro suggests the gap between their first choice attack and the backup plan is bigger than Alonso would like to admit. A Carabao Cup night at Anfield, against a Liverpool side who will have clocked exactly who is missing, is a tough place to prove otherwise.

For Liverpool, this is simply an opportunity to exploit. For Chelsea, it is a question they still have not answered convincingly, and one they now have to try and solve in front of a crowd that will make life as uncomfortable as possible.