Chelsea have been handed an early boost ahead of their Premier League clash against Brighton & Hove Albion with Marcos Alonso avoiding a suspension.
The Spaniard was handed a booking in the Blues’ slender 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium for a first-half foul on Raheem Sterling.
He managed to avoid any further punishment throughout the game, playing 81 minutes at left-wing back.
However, the yellow card issued by referee Craig Pawson did take the former Fiorentina defender to five bookings, the usual limit ahead of a one-match suspension in the Premier League - and with some sides having not yet reached the 19-match benchmark, some might be wondering why Alonso has managed to avoid a suspension.
It is because Chelsea have already progressed past the half-way mark in the fixture list, having played 22 games following defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
Alonso will now have to accumulate ten bookings before the end of the season to be ruled out through suspension - as per the Premier League’s rules.
Having the Spaniard will, of course, be a huge boost to Thomas Tuchel, with the Blues already experiencing serious problems at full-back.
English duo Ben Chilwell and Reece James are already ruled out with long-term problems - the former expected to miss the rest of the campaign after undergoing surgery on his ACL rupture.
As a result, Alonso has become undroppable for Tuchel and has started each of the last ten Premier League games for Chelsea, whilst he has also gone on to accumulate 26 appearances for the Blues throughout the campaign.
Chelsea are next in action on Tuesday evening as they travel to the AMEX Stadium to face Brighton & Hove Albion.
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