Chelsea ends the month with two Premier League award nominations
Chelsea has been phenomenal this season so far. The Blues began the campaign with another European trophy, but that game can be called more of a friendly than the official first game of the year. The Premier League season started off with a bang, as well, with the Blues putting three past Crystal Palace. Their month only got better from there, but there was a slight bump near the end. However, none of it matters any longer as two individuals from Chelsea have been nominated for a monthly Premier League award.
The PL has three awards at the end of each month, the Goal of the Month award, the Manager of the Month award, and finally, the Player of the Month award. While none of the Blues players managed to get into the best goal of the month category—although arguably Trevoh Chalobah should have made it—two individuals managed to get nominated in the other categories. Thomas Tuchel was obviously nominated for the Manager of the Month, whereas Marcos Alonso has been nominated for the Player of the Month award.
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Chelsea player and manager have been nominated for the monthly Premier League awards
This is huge news for the club and it goes on to show just how dominant this Chelsea side has been since the beginning of the season. The Blues haven’t lost any games thus far, but on top of that, they are the only other big six side (alongside Manchester City) to have faced two of the Premier League’s heavyweights. However, City lost its match against Tottenham Hotspur, whereas Chelsea won its match against Arsenal and drew against Liverpool.
The Blues were dominant in the first two games, so much so that the Eagles and Gunners hardly had a clear chance on goal throughout. The third game was a bit of a disappointing one in terms of the result. However, the team showed a lot of heart to bring home a point from Anfield, even after playing an entire half with only 10 men. In all of these games, Alonso has been a standout performer.
In the first game against Crystal Palace, the left wingback was instrumental in the Blues’ victory. He was not only running up and down the pitch, helping out the attack and defence, but he also scored the first goal for Chelsea in the 2021/22 season. It was a beautiful free kick from a few yards outside the box. The lead gave Chelsea the confidence to wrap up the game 3-0 after beginning in dominating fashion. In the contest against Arsenal, Alonso stood out in particular for playing a brilliant pass toward Romelu Lukaku, which ultimately led to the second Chelsea goal.
His game against Liverpool was a bit different. He was forced to defend most of the game due to the first half red card. This time, he showed off his sound defensive abilities, not allowing Mohamed Salah to get past him and helping the team collect one-point from a hard-fought match. He still managed to have a moment of brilliance up front, however, when he headed down a ball perfectly for Lukaku, but the Belgian’s shot was blocked by Joel Matip.
Tuchel had a brilliant month, as well. When a manager has this much talent in his squad, it is often easy to get confused and in an attempt to please all the players, rotate the squad around too much. This happened to Frank Lampard, who could seemingly never find the perfect set of players to start, but that problem has not occurred for Tuchel. The German is a seasoned manager, one of the best in the world, and he has no problem in leaving out underperforming players. He strives for the best and will only pick based on player performance. This was visible in the Super Cup when Tuchel put Kepa Arrizabalaga between the sticks in the penalty shootout. This was done because Arrizabalaga was the best keeper in training for penalties.
He has also shown the same tactics by deploying Alonso ahead of Ben Chilwell. The English left wingback is one of the best in the world and even helped the club win the Champions League last season. However, Alonso has been the better performer this season and thus, he has been chosen to start by Tuchel. His shrewd selection and high pressing game style earn him a nomination in which he is the favourite to win.
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