Chelsea began the 2026\/27 Premier League campaign with a 3-2 away victory over Fulham, giving Xabi Alonso a winning debut at the club. The result was built on an encouraging attacking display, even if the afternoon also exposed familiar concerns at the other end of the pitch.<\/p>\n
The visitors were level heading towards the break before their summer additions made a decisive impact. Maxence Lacroix created the moment, setting up Morgan Rogers for his first goal in blue. Cole Palmer then struck soon after half-time, adding a third for Chelsea and underlining his influence throughout the contest.<\/p>\n
Fulham responded through Gonzalo Garc\u00eda midway through the second half, but Chelsea managed the closing stages well enough to secure the points. It was a positive first step for Alonso, though the performance still carried clear warning signs, especially in defence.<\/p>\n
Robert S\u00e1nchez was once again central to that discussion. Alonso had recently said he was \u201cvery happy\u201d with his current options, particularly starter Robert S\u00e1nchez, and highlighted his \u201cexperience\u201d both at the club and the Premier League in general. However, the goalkeeper\u2019s afternoon quickly turned into another difficult one. His positioning was poor for the opener, and his attempt to intervene was no better. Later, another loose clearance handed Fulham a route back into the match.<\/p>\n
There were brighter notes elsewhere. Lacroix delivered a strong debut, combining defensive interventions with quality in possession. Palmer was outstanding, while Rogers impressed with his pressing and goal threat. Jo\u00e3o Pedro also made an early mark with a fine first touch and finish for Chelsea\u2019s opening goal.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s attack already looks capable of troubling teams, but Alonso will know the balance of the side still needs work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea beat Fulham 3-2 as Alonso\u2019s debut brought attacking promise and clear defensive concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,713],"tags":[1836,59,1981],"class_list":["post-18726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-fulham","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-featured","tag-gameweek-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}