Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa spent seven years as teammates at Real Madrid and Liverpool, and both represented Spain during that stretch. On Monday, they faced each other from opposite touchlines for the first time as managers, with Arbeloa having been promoted from Real Madrid’s B team to replace Alonso when the club sacked him in January. The reunion ended in Alonso’s favor, as his Chelsea side edged Arbeloa’s Fulham 3-2 in a chaotic west London derby at Craven Cottage, giving the new Chelsea boss his first win since taking over a club looking to bounce back from a disappointing 10th-place finish last season.
The other storyline running through the match belonged to Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer, close friends off the pitch who combined seamlessly on it. Rogers, who arrived from Aston Villa this summer for £117 million ($159 million) to become the most expensive British player in history, marked his debut with a goal, while Palmer added another shortly after halftime, and the pair’s understanding looked instinctive throughout, with Alonso deploying Rogers on the left and Palmer on the right of a front three built around Joao Pedro centrally.
Pedro opened the scoring inside the first minute, latching onto a delicate flick from Palmer after Levi Colwill’s header found him, and timing his run to clip a composed finish past Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno. Fulham drew level shortly after when Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, already under pressure following a shaky previous campaign, allowed a saveable effort from Josh King to squirm past him.
Chelsea’s bold 3-4-3 setup left them exposed defensively at times, but their attacking play carried enough purpose to compensate. Rogers restored the lead in the 41st minute, finishing a move that started with a clever Palmer turn and pass to debutant defender Maxence Lacroix, whose surprise forward run set up a low cross for Rogers to convert from close range. He celebrated with the “ice-cold” gesture Palmer had popularized after picking it up from a former Manchester City youth teammate, a small detail that underlined just how connected the two players already seemed.
Palmer, who had a difficult season last year that saw him left out of England’s World Cup squad, added Chelsea’s third four minutes into the second half, driving into the box after good hold-up play from Pedro and finishing from a tight angle. Fulham pulled another goal back through debutant Gonzalo Garcia, who pounced on a second Sanchez error to head home a rebound, but couldn’t find a leveler despite a frantic closing stretch that included a King effort that fizzed just wide.
Chelsea substitute Enzo Fernandez came on to loud boos from the home crowd, a reminder of his role in Argentina’s World Cup semifinal win over England still fresh in Fulham fans’ minds. For Alonso, though, the result mattered more than the noise. Keeping Rogers and Palmer both healthy and firing together may end up being the clearest path back toward Champions League contention this season.
