Predicted XI: Alonso finally able to pick his full strength team with multiple injured Blues returning

Xabi Alonso has effectively a full strength team to choose from, and this is the team we think he will go for.

The long international break is over, and Chelsea are finally back in action.

The time off has given a lot of players time to recover from injury, and according to manager Xabi Alonso in his press conference yesterday, this is effectively a full strength team he has to choose from. So what will his team be?

Alonso finally picks his full strength team

In goal, Emi Martinez should play, despite only having returned from Argentina on Thursday.

Ahead of him, Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana had the break to rest, while Maxence Lacroix did play a lot of minutes for France, he should still be ready to start. Josh Acheampong is ready to step in if Alonso has any doubts about Lacroix’s status.

In midfield, we expect Romeo Lavia to player after some strong showings for Belgium, and alongside him we should see Moises Caicedo make his first start of the season.

Out wide, Pedro Neto is likely to continue as right wing back, while Marco Palestra seems to be fit to make his Premier League debut on the left.

The front three picks itself – Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers will support Joao Pedro, if he has indeed recovered from the problem he had in the week before the break.

In other news…

Alonso has warned that his team can’t expect everything to be fixed by Moises Caicedo’s return.

Caicedo’s return is going to make all his teammates “happy,” Alonso added, because of what a generous player he is.