In all the doom and gloom around Stamford Bridge on Monday afternoon, Chelsea were handed a big boost which is set to help the Blues for the rest of the season
Almost one year on from his last competitive appearance for Chelsea, Levi Colwill was a second-half substitute in the Blues’ defeat to Nottingham Forest on Monday afternoon.
Nobody would have blamed Colwill if he performed a Grampa Simpson-style exit (the iconic meme) when walking into the house that was already engulfed in flames. The 23-year-old defender got some valuable first-team minutes for the first time in 295 days (the Club World Cup final vs Paris Saint-Germain last July) and has undoubtedly handed Chelsea a boost for the remainder of the season.
However, the England international will not be rushed back into action. Asked by football.london last week about Colwill’s return, Chelsea interim head coach Calum McFarlane said: “When someone has had an injury that long, you have to be patient, not rush, take it day by day.
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“Things can change day by day, his feelings can change day by day, so we just have to take it step by step and when he feels ready to play, then he will play.
“We just need to manage his minutes in those moments to not push him too much because we don’t want to risk re-injuring him but he looks brilliant, looks in a really good place.”
Colwill gives Chelsea something they do not have at the back. Not only is he a leader, whose voice can be heard even from the stands in most matches, but his composure on the ball and his ability to start attacks from deep, while also playing his side out of trouble, are unique features in relation to the rest of the squad.
There is no guarantee Colwill will even start one of the four remaining games, just like McFarlance said, it is very much a day-by-day thing with the defender. The Cobham graduate played 45 minutes – not including stoppage time – at Stamford Bridge on his return on Monday afternoon, perhaps more than initially planned.
Chelsea, though, were struggling to play out from the back and the plan was to bring Colwill on to help in that respect. While those minutes will prove good for Colwill in his recovery, a start at Anfield on Saturday afternoon seems highly unlikely.
By then, Chelsea will be hoping wingers Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho recover from their minor injuries to be in contention for the trip to Liverpool. Neto and Garnacho missed Monday’s defeat to Forest after picking up ‘knocks’ in training and McFarlane will update us on the pair’s fitness later in the week in his pre-match press conference.
Reece James, meanwhile, is set to travel to Merseyside after he returned from a hamstring injury on Monday. The Blues captain was back on the bench for the hosts at Stamford Bridge but did not come on in the defeat to Forest.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Robert Sanchez will be assessed after he went off in the second half on Monday with a bandage around his head. The goalkeeper collided with Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White and was taken off as a precaution.
Jesse Derry, meanwhile, is likely to be out. The 18-year-old, who was making his Premier League debut, was stretchered off towards the end of the first half after his collision with Zach Abbott led to a Chelsea penalty.
