Alonso: Hull City Deserve Their Current League Position; I'm Pleased with Neto's Efforts

On 22:00 BST (CEST) on 12 September, Chelsea will host Hull City in the fourth round of the Premier League. Ahead of the match, Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso attended a press conference. This article covers the second half of the press conference.

Hi Xavi, when the fixture list was announced in June and you saw you'd be playing Hull City in Round 4, could you have predicted they'd be ahead of you unbeaten?

Why not? They deserve to be in their position in the table. They've already played against Manchester United, Coventry, and Aston Villa, and they've performed very well. They've shown that they have a very clear philosophy, they know what they want, and how they want to compete.

Some players in the squad were there last season, and there are also some new signings, but their mentality is willing to give everything to fight and achieve their goals—I believe their goal is to stay in the Premier League, and they're doing that very well. Tomorrow is a chance for us to try to be the first team to beat them in the league this season.

Because of their outstanding performance, their head coach has been named Premier League Manager of the Month. As a head coach who is also new to the league, how do you assess his performance? Or how impressive is it?

Not just this season—for me, managing a team from the Championship to the Premier League is a great achievement. So, congratulations to him on this award, and more importantly, great credit to him for leading the team to promotion last season. What they've accomplished has truly been remarkable. Tomorrow we're ready, we will be ready. We will never underestimate them or be complacent; we will show them full respect, and we know it will be difficult to beat them. But if we do things well, perform at the level we expect, and play our style, I think we have a great chance of winning.

One last point—you just mentioned that Cole Palmer had an influence in recruiting Morgan Rogers to the club. I'd like to know, during your own playing career, did you ever influence other players to join the club you were at?

Well, maybe? But certainly not to the extent of Cole's role.

Hi Xavi, I'm just following up formally on the question I asked on Tuesday—when will Jordan Henderson and Omari Kellyman return? Not tomorrow, right?

We're hoping they can be back for Brentford; we'll see. We might face a similar schedule next week too. So hopefully—I can't give you a more specific date right now. You just asked the last question... they'll be back then, that's my hope at the moment.

Also, is Lavia okay?

Yes, yes.

One final question—Pedro Neto, how would you assess him since working with him? He plays as a wing-back; is he basically setting an example for other wingers?

For me, he's a winger. You can call him a winger, or you can call him a wing-back, because he has many very good qualities. He can start attacks from the defensive line and also help defend on the front line, so he has the ability to do many things. He performs very well in one-on-one situations, can score goals, has a great fighting spirit and work ethic, and connects very well with his teammates. I already knew him well from watching many Chelsea matches. But with him, you know he will compete with all his strength; you really want a reliable teammate like that in your team, and I'm very pleased with Pedro and the effort he puts in.

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