Xabi Alonso is "100% sure" Premier League clean sheets are coming for Chelsea, as he urges them to build on their positive start to the campaign against Hull City.

Both teams went into MD3 with perfect records, but the day after Hull drew with Aston Villa, Chelsea, who enjoyed chaotic wins over Fulham and Brighton to start the campaign, threw away a lead in a 2-1 loss to Arsenal.

The Blues also earned a 2-0 win in the EFL Cup second round against Luton Town, before booking their place in the last 16 of the competition in midweek with a 6-3 victory against Leeds United at Stamford Bridge.

In the Premier League, Chelsea are without a shutout in 19 fixtures, and that is a specific part of their game that Alonso is determined to improve on.

"We know that it's going to be a long process, but you need to be assessing how things are going, and so far, we can be happy," he said.

"But we need to be self-demanding as well because we can do better. We can't afford so much time to improve because we want to have clean sheets as soon as possible.

"That is going to be a focus in each game, but knowing that the competition is hard.

"They [clean sheets] will come; I am 100% sure they will come. We need to work to improve the areas we can do better, and the other areas we are doing well, we need to emphasise those parts."

Hull have collected seven points in the Premier League this season and are the only team in the top-flight that have not conceded a single goal, having also beaten Manchester United and Coventry City.

They suffered their first defeat of the campaign in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, though, going down 1-0 to Sunderland, with head coach Sergej Jakirovic admitting they were far from their best.

"I think we played an average game," Jakirovic told Radio Humberside after the Sunderland loss.

"For me, it was 50-50. We made a mistake after our corner, but maybe we could win this challenge, or we can have better organisation there, but this is football.

"I always expect that we will score the goal, but it's football."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Chelsea – Cole Palmer

Palmer has 15 goal involvements in his 15 Premier League games for Chelsea against newly promoted sides (nine goals, six assists).

Only Bruno Fernandes (19), Bryan Mbeumo (18), Ollie Watkins (17) and Alexander Isak (16) have more since the start of 2023-24.

Hull City – Oli McBurnie

McBurnie has made 258 high-intensity pressures so far in the Premier League this season, 74 more than any other player.

He could make his 100th Premier League appearance in this match, though he is still seeking his first goal of the season.