Alonso: Hull City deserve their current standing; I'm happy with Pedro Neto's efforts

On September 12, Chelsea will host Hull City in the fourth round of the Premier League. On the eve of the match, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca attended a press conference. This article covers the second half of the press conference.

When the fixtures were announced in June and you saw Chelsea would play Hull City in round 4, could you have predicted they would be ahead of you and unbeaten?

Why not? They deserve their current position. They've played against Manchester United, Coventry, and Aston Villa, and they've performed very well. They've shown they have a very clear philosophy, knowing what they want and how they want to compete.

There are players from last season on the team, and they've also made several new signings, but their mentality is to give everything to fight for their goal—which I assume is to stay in the Premier League—and they're doing very well. Tomorrow is an opportunity for us to try to be the first team to beat them in the league this season.

Due to their excellent performance, their head coach was named Premier League Manager of the Month. As a head coach who has also just arrived in this league, what do you think of his work?

Not just this season, but leading a team from the Championship to the Premier League is a huge success. So congratulations to him on this award, and even greater praise for leading the team to promotion last season. What they've achieved is truly impressive. Tomorrow we are prepared and ready. We will never underestimate them or be complacent; we will give them full respect, and we know it will be difficult to beat them. But if we execute our game plan, perform to our level, and play our style, I think we have a great chance of winning.

One last point: you mentioned that Cole Palmer had some influence on recruiting Morgan Rodgers to the club. In your own playing career, did you ever influence other players to join a club you were at?

Maybe? But certainly not as much as Cole's influence.

When will Jordan Henderson and Enzo Fernández be back? Not tomorrow, right?

We hope they can be back for the Brentford match. We'll see. Hopefully next week will give us a clearer timeline. I can't give you more specific dates right now, but they should be back by then—that's what we're hoping for.

Also, how is Lavia?

He's progressing well.

Last question: what's your assessment of Pedro Neto since you started working with him? He's been playing as a wing-back—has he set an example for other wingers?

For me, he is a winger. You can call him a winger or a wing-back because he has many excellent qualities. He can attack and also contribute defensively, so he's capable of doing many things. He performs well in one-on-one situations, can score goals, has an amazing fighting spirit and work rate, and connects very well with his teammates. I've watched him in Chelsea games before. What I know about him is that he will compete with all his might, and that's the kind of reliable player you want in your team. I'm very satisfied with Pedro and the effort he's putting in.

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