Chelsea return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon as newly promoted Hull City visit Stamford Bridge in matchweek four. Xabi Alonso’s side are hoping to bounce back quickly from a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal, which ended their perfect start to the campaign.
The Blues are fourth on six points, three points behind the perfect pace set by Arsenal and Manchester City. Hull travel to West London a place and a point above their hosts, having taken seven points from a possible nine.
In Alonso’s brief reign, it has been a case of prodigious attacking output and concerning defensive permeability. Chelsea have scored eight league goals, joint top in the division, and conceded seven in their opening three games. That means they have 19 top-flight games without a clean sheet, an unusual stat for a team with genuine title ambitions.
Wednesday’s cup draw further proved that dichotomy. The hosts were 1-0 down at half-time in their Carabao Cup third-round clash with Leeds United, but fought back to win 6-3 and progress. Cole Palmer scored twice off the bench, with Danny Welbeck also netting two goals as Morgan Rogers supplied three assists in a truly extraordinary second-half intervention.
The selection picture is much the same as it was at the Emirates Stadium. Alonso confirmed at his pre-match press conference on Friday that Moises Caicedo is still unavailable and hinted that next Friday’s derby at Brentford is a more realistic return date. Jordan Henderson, Marco Palestra and Emmanuel Emegha are also absent, while Romeo Lavia is in the mix to feature.
Sergej Jakirovic has an even longer injury list to contend with ahead of the trip south. Goalkeeper Jack Butland, defender Charlie Hughes and midfielders Darko Gyabi, Eliot Matazo and Hidemasa Morita all miss out for the Tigers.
Hull City’s Historic Clean Sheet Run Under Serious Threat
Hull’s rise has been almost entirely built on defensive solidity rather than attacking flair. The Tigers are the only club in the top four tiers of English football not to have conceded a league goal this season.
If they can keep Chelsea at bay on Saturday, Jakirovic’s side will be the first team to register clean sheets in each of their first four top-flight fixtures since Manchester City in 2015-16. In the entire history of the Premier League era, no side that has been promoted to the first division has ever done that.
Their 5-4-1 system, marshalled by veteran John Egan and protected by custodian Konstantinos Tzolakis, has yielded a 2-0 win over Manchester United, a 1-0 win at Coventry City and a goalless draw with Aston Villa. Stamford Bridge remains uncharted territory for Hull, who have never won there.