Chelsea will remain without injured duo Moises Caicedo and Marco Palestra for their Carabao Cup clash with Luton Town on Thursday.
The Blues got their season underway on Monday night with a 3-2 win at Fulham in the Premier League.
Joao Pedro, new signing Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer were on the scoresheet in the west London derby to start the Xabi Alonso era in exciting fashion.
The new boss was without Caicedo and Palestra for the clash, with Alonso vague in his report, but saying they had suffered ‘setbacks’ ahead of the opener.
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‘During the week they had a few setbacks,’ said the Spaniard after beating Fulham.
‘With Moi – and with any [player] – we don’t want to take too much risk. They weren’t ready to play tonight. We need to go week-by-week but for tonight they were not ready.’
Neither have recovered in time for meeting with Luton at Stamford Bridge and Palestra may well not feature on Sunday against Brighton on Sunday, although Caicedo could return.
‘Not for tomorrow, both won’t make it,’ Alonso told a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. ‘Let’s see, hopefully Moi could make it for the weekend, but we need to check a little bit more with Marco.
‘Otherwise everyone from Monday is okay, Cole [Palmer] is absolutely fine.’
After a poor performance against Fulham, there has been much speculation over the future of Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, with Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez linked with a move to Stamford Bridge.
Mike Penders is currently second choice behind Sanchez but may get a chance to shine against Luton.
‘Penders is part of the squad, so he has an opportunity,’ said Alonso. ‘We will decide and then I am giving the team tomorrow to the players, so I prefer to respect that they know first.’
On Manchester City-linked Enzo Fernandez, he added: ‘Enzo, yes we expect him to be involved. He is training really well, he’s a good professional, and he will be involved.’
Jordan Henderson and Emmanuel Emegha missed the Fulham game and remain out, but are expected back in the next two weeks.