'Special' trio gets Alonso off to a winning start at Chelsea

LONDON — Xabi Alonso hailed Chelsea's "special" forwards after Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro combined to inspire a 3-2 win at Fulham on Monday in his first game as Blues boss.

Alonso enjoyed the perfect start to his reign thanks to his decision to give Rogers, Palmer and Pedro the freedom to tear into Fulham's defense.

Pedro took just 31 seconds to open the scoring with a composed finish from Palmer's pass.

Rogers showed he can justify the eye-watering 117 million pound ($159 million) fee that Chelsea paid to Aston Villa to make him the most expensive British player in history.

The England star bagged Chelsea's second goal, firing home with aplomb after Fulham had punished a mistake from Blues goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, equalizing through Josh King.

And Palmer joined the party after halftime, scoring from an acute angle to put Chelsea 3-1 up.

Chelsea's entertaining display was a stark contrast to its moribund efforts last season, first under Enzo Maresca, and then Liam Rosenior.

"We were a threat. The three strikers were combining well and creating chances," Alonso said.

"They are going to be a very important part to build around, to build the team with," the Spaniard told reporters.

"They need to take responsibility. They need to lead the rest. They need to inspire the rest, because if they do well, the others will follow.

"Overall, the squad is balanced. The special players need to have the freedom, but they need to have the responsibility to help the team as well.

"We know they have the talent to create many chances. It is a good start, but (we cannot) rely only on them. We need to have control, quality and toughness."

Alonso was sacked by Real Madrid in January after less than eight months in charge at the Bernabeu.

The former Liverpool midfielder has a point to prove, as he tries to rediscover the Midas touch that helped him lead Bayer Leverkusen to an unexpected German title in 2024.

'Roll your sleeves up'

Chelsea had to survive Sanchez's second mistake, which handed a goal to Gonzalo Garcia, before Alonso could celebrate his debut victory in a pulsating west London derby.

"It was a really intense game. We suffered, we competed, we did whatever it takes in certain moments," Alonso said.

"The early goals helped us get confidence. We had a few chances before their equalizer.

"At the end, you know, you have to roll your sleeves up and fight to defend your goal."

Palmer also has a chance to prove the doubters wrong after his struggles last season led to England boss Thomas Tuchel leaving him out of his World Cup squad.

He appeared revitalized after the arrival of his good friend Rogers.

The former Manchester City youth team graduates both celebrated their goals with the 'ice-cold' gesture that Palmer has made popular after borrowing it from Rogers.

"When you grow up, you want to play or do anything with your best friends, so playing football at the best level feels surreal," Palmer said.

Admitting he is keen to get back to his best this season, Palmer added: "Did you not watch the game? I'm only joking! I'm ready, you know.

"It was a difficult season with injuries and whatnot, but through the summer, and since I've been back, I've worked extra hard.

"I know the talent I've got, so I can put in performances like that."

Asked if he wanted to silence the critics, Palmer added: "Normally, I'm not an emotional person.

"The people who know me know I'm not usually bothered about things in life, but over the summer I rested, I recharged and, yeah, I'm ready and I'm hungry."

The Chelsea supporters happily dusted off their Palmer song, something that was not heard much during that last campaign, as he struggled with injury.

"I'm very happy for Cole, because I have really enjoyed seeing him playing with this dynamism, with this freedom, with this responsibility, helping the team, feeling important, and we need that for the team," Alonso said.

"If Cole feels this way, we'll have a better team, a better Chelsea."

Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa — a former Liverpool and Spain teammate of Alonso who was also making his Premier League debut as a manager — said his side had made the challenge of facing Chelsea all the more difficult by conceding so early.

However, he praised his players for sticking to his plan for an energetic, high-pressure approach that could have been rewarded with another equalizer to make it 3-3, had Antonee Robinson kept his lob over Sanchez on target.

"My players did what they had to do," Arbeloa said. "I can't be happy, because we lost this game. We wanted to win for our fans, but I think this is the way that we have to play. We're going to play in this way, no matter who is in front of us."

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