'Prepared' Chelsea Squad Told What Needs To Happen To Have 'Good Chance' To Beat Hull
· Yahoo Sports
Xabi Alonso has told his Chelsea stars what they need to do to ensure they get back to winning ways in the Premier League.
Chelsea host Hull City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, looking to bounce back from their league defeat to Arsenal last weekend.
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It brought an end to Chelsea's perfect start to the campaign, but the Blues have won all three of their home games in all competitions this season.
They come up against a Hull side that remains unbeaten after three games and are the only side in the league not to have conceded so far this season, following their matches against Aston Villa, Coventry City and Manchester United.
Although Hull boss Sergej Jakirović won't admit it, Hull have already exceeded expectations and will go into the Chelsea fixture full of confidence, once again knowing they have nothing to lose.
The 49-year-old laughed off how to contain Chelsea's formidable attack, joking that they will need to kick the Blues in order to prevent them from their free-scoring habits that they've shown in the opening weeks of the season.
Despite Hull being a newly promoted side, Alonso insists there will be no complacency from the Blues as they look to extend their unbeaten run in the league against the Tigers to 11 games.
"We face (Saturday's) game with the same respect we did last week against Arsenal," previewed Alonso. "They are seven points, no goals conceded. They will be hard to beat. They have their weapons as well, with transitions and set pieces. They have the belief that the coach is doing a great job. So it's going to be hard and we'll have to be at our best to beat Hull tomorrow."
Hull are flying, and Alonso believes they deserve everything they have achieved so far following their promotion from the Championship.
The Spaniard added: "They deserve to be where they are. They played against United, Coventry and against Villa and they have done it really well. They have shown that they have built a very clear idea of what they want, how they want to compete with players that were already there last year, a few other players that came new, but the mentality is that they want to fight with everything to get the goal.
"I guess that is to stay in the Premier League. They are doing well and (Saturday) is the chance for us to try to beat them, first one in the league."
After Chelsea's fine start to the season, Alonso was nominated for the Premier League Manager of the Month award for August, as was Jakirović. Given the initial expectations of Hull, Jakirović picked up the award, and Alonso feels his impressive job extends beyond just the start of the 2026/27 season in the top-flight.
"Not just this year, for me to get a promotion from Championship to Premier League is a big, big success," continued Alonso. "Well done for this award, but very well done from the promotion from last year and what they are doing is great."
Alonso had one final message for his players as preparations concluded at their Cobham base. The instructions on how to give themselves the best possible chance of winning were clear.
"We are prepared, we are ready. There is not going to be complacency from us. We have full respect for them and we know that it will be hard to beat them. If we do things well, if we complete and play at our level, I think we will have a good chance."