Blue all around : Opening home league game at the Bridge for Chelsea : Picture by @YTJourno Premier League Chelsea (3) 4 Lavia 4, Pedro Neto 14, Joao Pedro 32, Palmer 74 Brighton (1) 3 Yalcouye 35, Joao Pedro og 63 Gross 95 You can't get much more 'early days' in a new season than a first home league game of the campaign - but is it too early to get excited about Chelsea's prospects? It can be argued that it has been a good decade since they seriously challenged for the Premi

Blues v Hatters by @JTaylorSport Chelsea 2 Luton Town 0 Chelsea prevailed in this second round Carabao Cup tie against a determined Luton Town at Stamford Bridge to ignite a new era with Xavi Alonso in charge. The Blues earned a tie in the exit round against Leeds United, thanks to a comfortable 2-0 win – and a debut goal for Danny Welbeck. An own goal in 78 minutes by Hatters’ defender Hakeem Odoffin made matters safe and to draw more satisfaction for Alonso. It was sufficie

Fulham (1) 2 v Chelsea (2) 3 Premier League Matchweek 1 Talking Points By Kaz Mochlinski at Craven Cottage Has there ever been a more thrillingly promising start made by a new Chelsea manager than that produced by Xabi Alonso at Fulham? Rarely has such an immediate impact occurred with an opening goal after only 31 seconds. It provided the platform for a 3-2 away victory as all three of Alonso’s new forward line of Cole Palmer, João Pedro and Morgan Rogers scored on their fir

First night assembly at the Cottage Premier League Fulham (1) 2 King 23, Gonzalo Garcia 54 Chelsea (2) 3 Joao Pedro 1, Rogers 41, Palmer 49 New managers. Some new players. But none of them were Harry Wilson. This is a fixture that has inspired some scintillating performances from the Whites in recent seasons - with Wilson the catalyst - but this time they had to accept they were second best as Cole Palmer ran the show for the Blues. The Chelsea midfielder was back to his stri

By Alessandro Schiavone in Gelsenkirchen Schalke 04 0-3 Real Madrid Goals: Mbappé, Huijsen, Espi (RM) Achievements in football might have a short memory. But antics and football supporters certainly don’t. And football took a backseat when Marc Cucurella was introduced after the hour mark. The ex-Chelsea left-back, making his Real Madrid debut in Germany against Schalke 04 yesterday afternoon, replaced Álvaro Carreras and was met by a chorus of whistles. The freshly crowned W

Eyes down for another tilt at glory The World Cup has barely ended but for most of football fans, the attention now turns to the real business - the return of the domestic programme. Saturday sees the start of the campaign with the Carabao Cup taking up the mantle as season curtain-raiser a week ahead of a full EFL programme in the Championship and Leagues One and two. The Premier League's stars gets a extra week on the beach before they get going the following weekend (Augus

Spain celebrate after winning the World Cup for a second time: Picture from Wikimedia Commons/The White House Has there ever been a more universally welcome outcome in a World Cup final? Has a result ever felt more just? We all feared the worst when referee Slavko Vincic failed to yellow card Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister early on for a typically savage challenge on Dani Olmo, and it looked like the gruesome Argentinians were going to get carte blanche to go about their sor

Enzo Fernandez: Wikimedia Commons Have the bridges been burnt down completely or will it all be forgotten before we know it? Within seconds of Argentina claiming a 2-1 win over England in Wednesday's World Cup semi-final in Atlanta, Chelsea's social media had posted a picture of Enzo Fernandez, ears cupped goadingly, after his late equaliser to dash those Albion hopes. They weren't reading the room too well. The post was soon taken down. England fans had plenty of despair to

Photo by Alessandro Schiavone By Alessandro Schiavone While Spain reached the final of the FIFA World Cup courtesy of a convincing 2-0 win over France in Dallas yesterday, one particular detail may have been lost on Tottenham Hotspur fans: Pedro Porro's strike pulled their club level with Chelsea on three goals in World Cup semifinals. Up until yesterday’s clash between the neighbouring countries, the Blues were 3-2 ahead in these London charts thanks to Oscar (1) and Schurrl

Mikel Merino in the red of the national team : Picture from Wikimedia Commons The World cup's final chapters are about to be written - with London players still very much involved in the chase for sporting immortality. The tension that is about to grip the nation on Wednesday as England take on Argentina in Atlanta will be underscored by the subtext of a north London confrontation between Tottenham's Crstian Romero and soon-to-be club team-mate Marcos Senesi for the world cha