Chelsea beat Fulham to give Alonso winning start
Chelsea prevailed in a lively derby at Craven Cottage.
The Blues made the perfect start to their season and new boss Xabi Alonso’s reign, with Joao Pedro putting them ahead after just 31 seconds.
Fulham, with their new boss – Alonso’s close friend – Alvaro Arbeloa also presiding over his first Premier League match at the helm, hit back through Josh King’s equaliser.
But Morgan Rogers scored on his debut to restore Chelsea’s lead, and Cole Palmer made it 3-1, before Gonzalo Garcia’s goal on his Fulham debut hauled them back into the game.
Both teams showed promising signs, with Chelsea looking impressive going forward. But both were shaky at the back.
Chelsea went in front straightaway, sweeping forward from front to back, with Palmer directing the ball through to Joao Pedro, who dinked it over keeper Bernd Leno.
Fulham levelled, largely thanks to terrible goalkeeping from Robert Sanchez, whose shortcomings were often exposed last season and were evident again.
King exchanged passes with Timothy Castagne on the right-hand side, darted into the box and fired a right-footed shot into the middle of the goal past Sanchez, who should have done better.
But two of Chelsea’s debutants combined to restore the visitors’ lead four minutes before half-time.
Palmer was involved again, playing the ball to Maxence Lacroix, who took on Jorge Cuenca on the right and pulled back for fellow recent signing Rogers to thump home.
And the outstanding Palmer netted with a lovely finish four minutes after the restart – moments after beautifully evading four challenges and shooting wide.
The hosts were caught out by a long ball and Joao Pedro teed up the overlapping Palmer, who raced through on the left and slotted past Leno.
Fulham’s defending was poor – and so was Levi Colwill’s in the build-up to Garcia pulling a goal back.
Colwill failed to deal with a diagonal ball, enabling Castagne to sneak behind him and shoot. Again Sanchez was at fault, palming the ball straight onto the head of Garcia, who gratefully accepted the gift.
Antonee Robinson had Fulham’s best chance to equalise but sent a first-time effort with his unfavoured right foot wide of the target after racing onto Cuenca’s ball over the top.
At the other end, Joao Pedro had a goal disallowed for offside in stoppage time.
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Cuenca, Bassey, Robinson (Muniz 82), Berge (Sessegnon 73), Iwobi, King, Bobb (Charles 67), Gonzalo, Palacios (Kevin 73)
Subs not used: Lecomte, Tete, De Fougerolles, Reed, Smith Rowe.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto (Neto 76;), Lacroix, Colwill, Acheampong, James, Hato Chavarria 66), Lavia (Fernandez 66), Palmer (Estevão 82), Rogers (Quenda 82), Joao Pedro.
Subs not used: Penders, Barco, Neto, Gittens, Welbeck.
