Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso toasted his winning debut in the Premier League by praising his front line of Joao Pedro, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer who put on a masterclass of attacking football in a 3-2 London derby win at Fulham on Monday.
"They are going to be a very important part to build around them, to build the team with them," 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 great, the other ones will follow."
Joao Pedro put Chelsea ahead after 31 seconds when he latched onto a pass from Palmer, who was back in the kind of dazzling form that stunned the Premier League after his move from Manchester City in 2023.
The Brazilian repaid the favor early in the second half when he set up Palmer to make it 3-1 to the visitors with an angled shot that flew between the legs of goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
That was after Rogers – the club’s record signing over the close season from Aston Villa - had marked his debut for the Blues by restoring their lead in the 41st minute.
Goals from Fulham’s Josh King and Gonzalo Garcia kept the hosts in the game until the end but Chelsea’s 18 shots – six on target – helped send the visiting fans home confident of a big improvement on last season’s dismal 10th-place finish.
The Chelsea supporters happily dusted off their Cole 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 coach - said his side had made the challenge of facing Chelsea all the more difficult by conceding so early.
But he praised his players for sticking to his plan for an energetic, high-pressure approach which could have been rewarded with another equalizer to make it 3-3 had Antonee Robinson kept his lob over keeper Robert Sanchez on target.
"My players they 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."
