Alonso's Team News: Who's Fit for Spurs?

Tottenham are at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with kick-off at 17:30 BST. We come into it with two wins behind us and a few worries about the squad. Xabi Alonso has now spoken, so here is where we stand.

The bad news first

Pep Chavarria will not be involved. Alonso was clear about it: “Pep is training a little bit more but he is not going to make it.”

That is a blow. Livescore also reports that Reece James and Emiliano Martínez are out for a while. That report comes from a single source and gives no timescale, so I won’t guess at one. Having James missing is never good news for us.

The good news

Alonso was happier talking about Malo Gusto. “Malo [Gusto] is fine,” he said. Short and sweet, and it’s what we wanted to hear.

Livescore also reports that Marco Palestra is fit and can play on either side if needed, and that Jorrel Hato continues at left-back. That gives Alonso a few options out wide. I’d like to see Hato kept in his role at left-back, since changing things there now would feel like needless disruption. On the right, Gusto and Palestra give us proper competition, and I like that.

The goalkeeper situation

The injury I worry about most is Martínez’s. We had to bring on Mike Penders at Everton after Martínez was hurt. Nobody wants a goalkeeper change forced on them in the middle of a game. Penders came in and we still won, which says something about the group.

Where the results have left us

We beat Everton 2-0 away on Saturday 17 October, and that win moved us up to fourth in the Premier League. A week earlier, on 10 October, we beat Bournemouth 5-1 at Stamford Bridge. That is listed as our biggest win of the 2026-27 season so far.

Two wins, seven goals and a climb up the table. I’m not going to pretend one good week fixes everything. But it’s the sort of run that builds belief, and the home crowd should feel it on Saturday.

What it means for Spurs

Alonso has some selection headaches, but the picture is not a gloomy one. With Gusto fine, Palestra fit and Hato settled on the left, the full-back areas are covered even without Chavarria. The bigger question is how we cope without James and Martínez for a while.

This is a big home game, and I want us to play with the same belief we showed against Bournemouth and at Everton. We take that into 17:30 and we ask the crowd to get behind them.

More of our work is in the Club section, you can catch up on every result in our Match Reports, and our Blog has plenty more to read.

Up the Blues.