Xabi Alonso: Welbeck and World Cup-returnees available for Chelsea’s Premier League opener at Craven Cottage

Xabi Alonso said Danny Welbeck and the Chelsea players who returned from the World Cup are available for selection for Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday night. Welbeck exercised alone on Thursday, but Alonso indicated the former Brighton forward should be fit to make his competitive debut.

Welbeck joined Chelsea from Brighton earlier this summer and his separate session on Thursday prompted questions over his readiness. Alonso confirmed Welbeck has been training individually and said the plan is for him to rejoin full training ahead of the match. He added that the club will assess progress day by day before finalising selection.

“Danny Welbeck has been training individually. He can be involved. He just needed a couple of days not training that much because of a little thing. We expect him to be back [training] on Saturday. We need to go day by day, but that is the plan at the moment.”

Alonso also addressed the wider group of players who returned late from international duty, listing Reece James, Enzo Fernandez, Maxence Lacroix, Morgan Rogers, Valentin Barco and Malo Gusto as examples who only reported for pre-season after the team toured Southeast Asia. He said those players received longer summer breaks because of the World Cup and that the staff will check and assess their condition. “With the other players, let’s see. We will check and assess them, but for sure because of the World Cup they came back a little bit later and will need a little more time. But they are all available and can be selected in the line-up against Fulham, for sure.”

Alonso provided an update on Levi Colwill, who missed much of the 2025–2026 season while recovering from surgery after tearing his ACL a year ago this month. He credited a full pre-season with helping Colwill’s recovery and stressed caution given the defender’s previous injury. “I would say having a proper pre-season has helped (Colwill) in taking the right steps in the right moment. We don’t want to rush him too quickly because of what he had last year. “Now, after pre-season, we are expecting him to play in a good way with the confidence and the fitness to have him at his best level. For me, he is one of the best centre-backs in the world.”

Yes, he is fit to play against them. On 25th August at 12:30 am IST.