Top News

An important few days on the training ground now await Chelsea before a short trip to a side that has regularly troubled them.

Xabi Alonso had only four minutes with the media to assess Chelsea’s latest setback, but he made full use of that brief window.

The Blues’ 2-2 draw against Hull City on Saturday has handed him another headache, even if it is one that was already there. Seven chaotic minutes of first-half defending threatened to turn that problem into something far more serious.

A catalogue of mistakes led to Mohamed Belloumi’s equaliser, which arrived 20 minutes after Morgan Rogers had opened the scoring with a fine finish. Wesley Fofana, Malo Gusto and Jorrel Hato were all heavily at fault for that leveller, while the Algerian’s second goal came from Emi Martinez’s failed attempt to claim a corner, followed by two unfortunate deflections.

Speaking after the draw in a blunt post-match press conference, Alonso criticised his defenders as “soft” and then made a concerning admission: “We have been punished. [This result] repeats patterns we are making. It will take time to fix them.”

Chelsea’s recurring inability to control games has become impossible to ignore — their wins over Fulham and Brighton both came after they surrendered early leads, and the same issue was evident in the defeat at Arsenal.

Although the attack is still producing, the rest of the team’s spine is not functioning well enough. An overrun midfield, mistake-ridden defending and Martinez’s poor beginning to life at the club were all visible over the weekend.

When asked last week how he felt his Chelsea side was progressing, Alonso said injuries had stopped him from shaping the team in his own way: “We will develop when important players are joining and they are able to play.”

He did not mention Moises Caicedo directly, but the implication was not difficult to understand. The Ecuadorian’s absence this season has been impossible to miss. His aggressive ball-winning and calmness in possession have been badly lacking. His expected return will be important.

The same applies to summer arrivals Jordan Henderson and Marco Palestra, neither of whom has yet played a single competitive minute for the club.

Moises Caicedo is back in training.

All three, however, could return as Chelsea prepare for another demanding away assignment, this time against local rivals Brentford.

The Gtech Community Stadium has become an awkward venue for the Blues in recent seasons — they have not won there since 2021 — and Alonso will be desperate to deliver a result that sends a message.

For any manager, public perception matters enormously, and what happens in Hounslow will shape the conversation around Alonso’s Chelsea throughout the upcoming international break. More dropped points would leave a heavy cloud hanging over the club for the next three weeks.

That means Friday night’s visit to their neighbours can reasonably be viewed as one of the most significant games of his early spell in charge. This is the moment to start repairing the obvious flaws.

Alonso has already shown that he knows exactly where Chelsea’s problems are. The next step is proving he can solve them.

Jordan Henderson was signed for his experience.

Strengthening that vulnerable back line — which has now gone 20 league matches without a clean sheet — is the most urgent task, but improving the team’s mentality will be just as important. A loss of concentration after a stoppage in play led to Saturday’s equaliser, and the irritation from that moment was clearly still there afterwards.

If Hull were capable of taking advantage of that uncertainty, Brentford are unlikely to struggle. Keith Andrews has the right tools to target Chelsea’s weak points — a strong midfield and a physical striker in Igor Thiago, who will be more than willing to rough up a defence short on confidence.

Alonso is still only at the beginning of his time at Chelsea, but those early growing pains need to be overcome sooner rather than later. With one final week on the training ground before his players leave for international duty, this is the moment to get to the heart of the matter.