Chelsea Beats Fulham 3-2 in Alonso Debut as £117m Rogers and Palmer Shine

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 24

João Pedro struck after 31 seconds and Chelsea still needed all three goals to beat Fulham 3-2 in Xabi Alonso’s first Premier League game in charge.
Cole Palmer and £117 million signing Morgan Rogers drove Chelsea’s attack, with Rogers scoring from Maxence Lacroix’s assist and Palmer adding the third after João Pedro beat Fulham’s offside line.
Chelsea’s back line nearly undid that work: Robert Sánchez was exposed on Josh King’s goal, then spilled Timothy Castagne’s shot for Gonzalo García to head in and cut the lead to 3-2.
Fulham, under Álvaro Arbeloa, showed promise despite the loss, with 19-year-old King impressing and García scoring on debut, but naive defending and missed late chances denied an equalizer.
The result gives Alonso an opening win, yet the match underlined the trade-off in his early Chelsea side—sharp front-three combinations but little control and clear defensive flaws.