Matt Law reveals Chelsea player could be out for months after Xabi Alonso’s ‘slip of the tongue’
Chelsea’s 2026-27 campaign is only eight matches in, and Xabi Alonso has already had to deal with more than his fair share of injuries. Now, one player could be sidelined for months.
Jordan Henderson, Moises Caicedo, Reece James, Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Marco Palestra and plenty of others have missed games this season through injury. Luckily, most of those players are available again.
England star James is sidelined again with a knee issue, but Cole Palmer, Pedro, Caicedo, Henderson and Palestra are all fit again. But for winger Gittens, a longer spell is expected before he is back on the pitch.
Xabi Alonso’s slip of the tongue regarding Jamie Gittens
Last week, ahead of the win over Bournemouth, Alonso said that Gittens might be out for a few weeks. It comes after picking up an ankle injury with England’s U21 side and being spotted sporting crutches.
Lee Carsley, England’s U21 manager, confirmed the news after he was substituted in the first half of the Young Lions’ win against Kazakhstan in September. Now, Matt Law has delivered an update on Gittens.
Speaking to the London Is Blue podcast, Law says Alonso let slip the severity of Gittens’ injury. Before correcting himself and saying Gittens would be back in weeks, Alonso actually said “months”.
Chelsea needed this break BADLY… but with so many players racking up minutes for their countries, did it actually help them or could it have made things worse? 🤔
Let us know your reasoning! 👇
“Having been in Alonso’s press conference last week, there was a little slip of the tongue where he said ‘months’ and then changed it into weeks,” Law said, having been present for Alonso’s press conference.
“I thought, hmmm. He did say it was a bad one. That slip of the tongue perked my ears to be honest with you, I suspect he’s out for a little while,” the reporter continued, in today’s episode of London Is Blue.
Jamie Gittens will be wishing he was allowed to join Roma
While Alonso will prefer to have a clean bill of health, Gittens’ injury has very little impact on what he is doing at Chelsea. Before his injury, Gittens had not played a single minute in the Premier League.
He only got 10 minutes against Luton and was one of a few players to be subbed off at half-time against Leeds. It comes after a late approach from Roma to sign the former Borussia Dortmund attacker on loan.
Chelsea prevented that move, deciding that Gittens remained a part of Alonso’s plans. But six weeks later, Gittens will be wishing he joined Roma – despite the injury coming while on duty with England’s U21s.
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