“Looked solid” – Xabi Alonso on how Chelsea were working on their defending after long awaited clean sheet

Chelsea kept a long awaited clean sheet on Friday, and their manager was asked about how they did it.

Chelsea kept their first clean sheet since January on Saturday, and now have conceded just once in the two games since Moises Caicedo has returned to the team.

After the game, manager Xabi Alonso was asked about what had changed and how he had improved things in the international break:

“It’s a process. You make mistakes, you analyse them, you work from them, you learn from them. For sure, we have seen an improvement, especially after the break against Bournemouth,” the manager said.

“We looked solid. Today was a professional performance that you need in these stadiums like Everton. They worked really hard; it’s not about playing nice, it’s about playing good; and today we played good.”

Chelsea look to have finally turned a corner defensively

We’re not getting carried away. This was one game, and we need to see those levels over a longer period before we really start to believe there’s been a significant change. Losing our first choice goalkeeper won’t help either.

But if we continue to trend in the right direction over the next few months, we’ll start allowing ourselves to believe we really are on the right path.

In other news…

Alonso has also been speaking about Pedro Neto and his improved form of late – the Spaniard denies he’s a wing back, however.

Jordan Henderson has said how impressed he is with some of his Chelsea teammates, and noted that he’s sensing a team starting to come together.