Chelsea survived through first half scares on Halloween to defeat Manchester United 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Both sides had goals ruled out for offside offences in the first half, but United were the team that were looking most dangerous as Chelsea once again looked nervy when attempting to deal with pressure on their back line.
Alonso's men struggled to build out, and were conceding too many half chances. On several occasions, last ditch blocks or hopeful punts long were needed for pressure to be relieved.
There was alarm within sections of Stamford Bridge when Alonso made no substitutions at half time, but a day which threatened to turn toxic on the back of two defeats against Spurs and Liverpool, eventually turned into a memorable performance, placing The Blues fourth in the Premier League table as of Saturday evening.
A bit of Brazilian Flair won't hurt
Estevao has been the talk of the town lately. Pretty much every Chelsea fan has questioned why he has not received more minutes, especially in the Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday.
Alonso has tried to combat expectation with reality, leaning towards being patient on the Brazilian, citing physicality and intensity reasons, however, he got his chance today, and boy did he take it.
Yes, some of what Alonso has said about Estevao rings true, there were times during the match where he lost the ball too easily, was dispossessed and failed to track back with as much intensity as Pedro Neto, but it is his overall relentlessness to attack fullbacks which make such a difference, not only to Chelsea but to the crowd.
Every single time Estevao was on the ball, there was an anticipation within the crowd for him to create some magic. Even if what he tries doesn’t come off? That’s still met with chants of “Steveo” on repeat. Chelsea fans love grit and hard work - many titles were won based upon those foundations, but there is no short of appreciation for tricky wingers, too. Eden Hazard, Joe Cole, Willian at times, the list goes on.
Some will say he needs to learn the offiside rule, while others will call it unlucky how he didn't come away with a goal this afternoon. First, following up Pedro Neto's shot in the opening 15 minutes, then later on during the match, a weak foot rifled shot into the top corner past Senne Lammens.
The second goal, which was reminiscent of his Barcelona strike last season, came after a barrage of relentless runs at Diogo Dalot throughout the match, which should have also resulted in an assist on one occasion in the second half when Cole Palmer was inches away from tapping home a dangerous low cross.
His on ball ability was clear, but for Alonso it will be the tracking back which gets him the most plaudits. Sources have told Striver.Football that Alonso wants to develop Estevao into a complete player and that there are some muscle injury concerns should he feature every week.
After the game, Alonso said: "I spoke after Tottenham with Estevao and he was always going to be playing today. He has had the best response to show that he deserves more, that he was prepared and that's what you want from your players. I'm very happy for him. He was really close to scoring that goal. He worked really hard, he was tired”
“I had an idea that he could have a good impact today. He showed that. He was a threat, he created many chances that we could score”
It will be tough now for Estevao to be left out. As long as he is fit and healthy, a baseline of average minutes should be agreed upon. He needs it, and most importantly, Chelsea and Alonso need it.
There is no price too high for proven quality
It has been a long time since Chelsea had a true goals and assist magnet in attack. Morgan Rogers’s £117m fee is hardly being talked about so far this season. The Englishman had already registered goals against Arsenal and Liverpool before today. Now, Manchester United are added to his latest tally in Blue.
While Estevao was looking lively for the first 45, Rogers and Palmer were quiet. However, after some good combative work from Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo in midfield, Rogers took the ball and ran into open space, then past several men in Red before chipping past Senne Lammens. It was a goal that showed off Rogers's immense running power and physical attributes, and another to add to the list of fast starts for Chelsea after the whistle.
Rogers is not only delivering in the big games, he is helping Chelsea in the ‘smaller’ games as well, where goal involvements against the likes of Bournemouth, Leeds and Hull have helped Chelsea gain points or advance to the next rounds of competition.
His six goal involvements are more than any other 2026 Premier League summer signing, with a total of ten goal involvements in the twelve featured matches thus far.
Ex Chelsea and Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge thinks the Chelsea man can deliver between 13-15 non penalty goals this season. He said on X: "Morgan Rogers needs to have a strikers mentality when Pedro is out, be a bit more selfish and shoot more. He has the quality to score 13-15 premier league goals without pens. Baller"
It can only be a good thing for Chelsea that Rogers is contributing in front of goal this frequently and this early on in the season while also having the time and room to improve his overall influence throughout 90 minutes of a match on a consistent basis.
He has got the potential, but he can do more dribbles and runs like today's goal. He can be more like Estevao and take further initative of a game and grab it by the scruff of it's neck.
Alonso not satisfied yet despite the three points
As mentioned at the start of the article, Chelsea did have a shaky first half and on another day would be facing an uphill battle to get back into the match. There are lots of things to improve on from build up, to rotations, to marking and tracking runners, to finding the right balance between intensity and control and so plenty more.
The good thing for fans though is that Alonso is aware and switched on. In Friday's press conference ahead of this match, he remarked how he could 'write a book' on how much lessons he has learnt over the first months in charge of the club.
Today, Alonso pointed out how the half time team talk centred around controlling the ball and being better on it, as the first half was in large portions too frantic again.
He said: “We spoke at half-time that we were going to win the game with the ball. The message was to be better with the ball. We changed some things tactically. We had more control. When you look better with the ball, usually you look better defensively as well!”
That remains the challenge for Alonso, finding the right balance between defence and attack. It is early days this season but today's win will buy Alonso a bit of time with a fanbase who have been less than impressed over the past week with the Spaniard.
Chelsea will travel to Sunderland next week and will be hoping not to repeat the last away trip before an International break, where they were well beaten by Brentford in September.
