Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso has defended goalkeeper Mike Penders after he put his team on the back foot with a costly own goal in Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League loss to Tottenham. Penders was playing his first league match at Stamford Bridge after coming in for an injured Emiliano Martínez in the previous game against Everton.
The 21-year-old made some fine saves in the first half, including a close-range stop to deny Omar Marmoush. However, things went wrong for the Belgian in the 77th minute after he tried to punch Mateus Fernandes’ in-swinging corner clear but put the ball into the net. Three minutes later, Cole Palmer was sent off for a second yellow card, and soon after, Mathys Tel scored a late second goal for Spurs.
After the match, Alonso said that he would not lay the blame at Penders’ feet and told reporters:
> “We win together, we lose together. It’s part of the job to overcome mistakes. Myself as well, and everyone. We support Mike. He will learn from that. He can do better and we have to show he can do better.”
Penders became only the second Chelsea goalkeeper to score an own goal in the Premier League, after Petr Cech back in 2009. He is also the second-youngest goalkeeper in Premier League history to do so, behind Leeds’ Illan Meslier, at just 21 years and 85 days old.
In addition, Alonso spoke about how João Pedro was missing from the team due to injury. He had to play Morgan Rogers as a false nine, and Chelsea managed only seven shots in the game. Alonso said:
> “\[Joao\] Pedro is important for us but this is what it is. We can’t control that. We changed a little bit and it’s a situation we have to check for the future.”
They will be hoping that the forward comes back quickly as they have a League Cup game against Liverpool at Anfield and a home game against Manchester United.
Roberto De Zerbi Credits Tottenham’s Improvement After Victory
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Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi was pleased with how his team’s performance went after they had to wait a long time to get a league win at Stamford Bridge. They had only won once in their previous 33 Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge.
De Zerbi believes they are now a completely different team after getting rid of their fragile mindset. He said:
> “Listen, against Aston Villa, Everton, 30 minutes we were playing very well. Maybe no goals or finishing good enough to score. Maybe we’ve changed mentality, to much fragile, no? Now it’s a complete team.”
Tottenham moved up to 12th place in the Premier League table with nine points after two consecutive league victories. They will next face Crystal Palace on October 31st.