Chelsea’s Carabao Cup campaign kicks off in west London tomorrow night, when we host League One side Luton in Alonso’s first competitive match on home soil in the Stamford Bridge dugout.

Ahead of the second round tie, our Spanish manager was asked if he is likely to rotate his starting XI for this knockout game. It comes hot on the heels of Monday’s 3-2 win at Fulham in our opening Premier League fixture of the season, with the league visit of Brighton & Hove Albion fast approaching on Sunday.

Alonso insisted he won’t be taking our Carabao Cup opponents lightly, ensuring that any rotation retains the right balance and competitiveness in the Chelsea line-up, as he plots our progress across three domestic fronts this season.

‘This season, knowing that we have time for all the competitions, every cup is important, every game is important,’ insisted Xabi.

‘We want to have the best competitive team to face Luton, with all the respect that everything deserves. And Luton are going to be the first game in the Carabao Cup.

‘The main thing is the quality of the players, that they adjust and that we have balance with the players around them that makes sense and makes the team better.

‘That is always my main focus, that the team is better with the qualities and knowing the best qualities of each individual player.’

During his pre-match press conference ahead of the Carabao Cup second round meeting with Luton, Alonso was also asked if he offered any specific words for Robert Sanchez in the last couple of days. It is clear that it is the team’s performance which is foremost in the mind of manager and players.

‘No, normal conversations,’ our manager responded. ‘We have talked more about team things, what we did well, what we have to do better. It was more about understanding the context of the game.

‘Every game is going to be important because we are in this process where we need to develop things, we need to make adjustments and we are more team focused.’