One of the more curious substitutions that Frank Lampard made this season was taking off Marcos Alonso after an hour against Burnley.
Alonso was withdrawn, replaced by Reece James, and heads were being scratched.
Emerson Palmieri should be more than ready by now to play tomorrow night against Manchester United, so why rest Alonso for that half an hour? He should be set for a week off now, but this raises suspicions.
Did Alonso pick up a knock and asked to be taken off? Or even worse, has Emerson had a setback that we don’t know about? Either way, it’s a concern. We should have a real luxury in depth at that position now with both of them there, and at this busy stage of the season we need them both fit.
Let’s hope it was just a few extra minutes rest for the Spaniard. We’ve struggled to get them both ready at the same time this season, and this would be a terrible time to lose one of them again.
