Xabi Alonso Starts Chelsea Reign with a Win

Xabi Alonso kicked off his unofficial Chelsea tenure with a victory. On Saturday, the Blues triumphed in a behind-closed-doors friendly against League Two side Crawley Town.

According to reports from the Daily Mail, the Premier League club secured a 3-1 win, with goals coming from Jamie Gittens, Liam Delap, and Emmanuel Emega.

Available players featured for 45 minutes each, as pre-season training under Alonso commenced at the Cobham training ground last Thursday, July 9th.

The friendly also saw participation from academy prospects, with several youngsters integrating into first-team training since the start of preparations for the 2026-27 season.

While Chelsea still awaits the return of several stars following the World Cup and their subsequent breaks, players like Cole Palmer and João Pedro are already training at Cobham.

23-year-old Emega arrived from Strasbourg this summer on a pre-contract agreement, making this his unofficial debut goal for Chelsea.

Jamie Gittens missed the latter half of last season from January due to a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, Delap is eager to prove himself at Chelsea this season after a challenging period following his transfer from Ipswich Town.

Chelsea has another behind-closed-doors friendly scheduled for this Thursday against League One club Bromley.

The Londoners' tour will take them through Sydney (for friendlies against Western Sydney Wanderers on July 28th and Tottenham Hotspur on August 1st), Hong Kong (Juventus, August 5th), Jakarta (AC Milan, August 8th), and finally Malaysia (Johor Darul Ta'zim, August 9th).