Xabi Alonso won his first game as Chelsea boss thanks to Morgan Rogers’s debut goal and Joao Pedro’s strike after just 31 seconds of a pulsating 3-2 victory against Fulham on Monday.<\/p>\n
Alonso has been hired to revive Chelsea after their dismal 10th place finish in the Premier League last season.<\/p>\n
The former Real Madrid boss has a point to prove after being sacked by the Spanish club following less than eight months in charge.<\/p>\n
Alonso’s side ensured he delivered a good first impression in a chaotic west London derby at Craven Cottage.<\/p>\n
Pedro’s opener inside the first minute was followed by a blunder from Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez that gifted an equaliser to Josh King.<\/p>\n
Rogers put Chelsea back in front on his debut after becoming the most expensive British player in history following his \u00a3117 million ($159 million) move from Aston Villa in the close-season.<\/p>\n
Cole Palmer increased Chelsea’s advantage after half-time and the Blues survived a frantic finale after Gonzalo Garcia bagged Fulham’s second goal following another Sanchez mistake.<\/p>\n
On an evening when old friends were reunited on the touchline and on the pitch, Alonso emerged victorious against new Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa.<\/p>\n
The pals played together for seven years with Real Madrid and Liverpool and also starred for Spain.<\/p>\n
Ironically, Arbeloa was promoted from Real Madrid B to replace Alonso when he was axed at the Bernabeu in January.<\/p>\n
Rogers is also close friends with Palmer and the pair gelled immediately to lead a dynamic attacking display from Chelsea.<\/p>\n
Rogers was deployed on the left of Chelsea’s three-man attack, with Palmer on the right and Pedro in the central role.<\/p>\n
Palmer endured a difficult last campaign that saw him left out of England’s World Cup squad and he played as if he was determined to make amends.<\/p>\n
Keeping Rogers and Palmer fit and firing could be the key to Chelsea climbing back into contention for Champions League qualification this season.<\/p>\n
‘Ice-cold’ Rogers<\/strong><\/p>\n Alonso’s reign got off to a stunning start when Levi Colwill’s header reached Palmer and he flicked a deft pass into the path of Pedro, who timed his run perfectly and clipped a composed finish past Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno.<\/p>\n But Sanchez is under pressure after some shaky performances last term and the error-prone Spaniard was at fault when Fulham drew level in the 23rd minute.<\/p>\n King’s strike was close enough for Sanchez to save but he allowed the ball to squirm into the net.<\/p>\n While Chelsea were often left exposed at the back by Alonso’s bold 3-4-3 formation, they attacked with poise and purpose.<\/p>\n Romeo Lavia’s effort was superbly saved by Leno before Rogers restored the visitors’ lead in the 41st minute.<\/p>\n It was a brilliant move, started by Palmer’s clever turn and pass to debutant defender Maxence Lacroix, whose unexpected burst forward produced a low cross that reached Rogers for a clinical finish from 10 yards.<\/p>\n Rogers celebrated with the ‘ice-cold’ gesture that Palmer popularised after borrowing it from his former Manchester City youth team colleague.<\/p>\n Not to be out-done by his mate, Palmer bagged Chelsea’s third goal four minutes after half-time.<\/p>\n Pedro did well in the build-up, holding the ball long enough for Palmer to burst into the Fulham area and plant a low shot past Leno from a tight angle.<\/p>\n Fulham reduced the deficit in the 54th minute thanks to another howler by Sanchez.<\/p>\n Timothy Castagne’s shot was weakly pushed out by the keeper and Garcia pounced to head in the rebound on his debut after signing from Real Madrid.<\/p>\n Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez came off the bench to deafening boos from Fulham fans after his provocative role in Argentina’s World Cup semi-final win over England.<\/p>\n King nearly levelled for Fulham with a long-range rocket that fizzed just wide before Antonee Robinson’s lob over Sanchez drifted narrowly wide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Xabi Alonso won his first game as Chelsea boss thanks to Morgan Rogers’s debut goal and Joao Pedro’s strike after just 31 seconds of a pulsating 3-2 victory against Fulham on Monday. Alonso has been hired to revive Chelsea after their dismal 10th place finish in the Premier League last season. The former Real Madrid …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5089,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5087\/revisions\/5089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}