Xabi Alonso on Chelsea’s narrow loss to champions Arsenal: ‘It has to hurt’

Chelsea faced defending champions Arsenal in the Premier League 2026-27 season. The two sides met at London’s Emirates Stadium on September 6 and it was Arsenal who emerged victorious. The holders won the clash 2-1, recording a brilliant win.

Chelsea opened the scoring when Morgan Rogers found the net early in the clash. But after the goal, for the next few minutes, Kai Havertz equalized in the 25th minute of the game.

Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard also doubled the lead and helped Arsenal win the game with a goal in the 50th minute. Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso took center stage after the game and talked about how the loss is meant to hurt.

"It was a game of different momentum and different stages. We started the game well, we scored first. They really got on our case for the next 15 minutes. We defended well, we didn’t have the ball and we had to play more on the pitch. So yeah, those 15 minutes were hard, we had to get through it. “I think that the game came back to an even level for us after we conceded the goal,” Alonso said after the game.

The team showed a really good desire and a good spirit to fight till the end. “We were close with a chance from Estevao [Willian] so it’s a defeat. We’re disappointed. “It has to hurt, but it has to hurt in a positive way, because it’s just game three, there are a lot of games to play and we knew it was going to be a very intense game today,” he said.

Talking of Chelsea, the side will be starting their campaign in EFL Cup. Leeds United are the side’s next opponents. The teams will meet at Stamford Bridge in London on September 10 and both the teams will look to put in their best performance as they would hope to move through to the next round.