Xabi Alonso said he was “100% sure” the clean sheets would come. Two days later, Hull City scored twice at Stamford Bridge and pushed Chelsea into defensive territory they have not occupied for 65 years.
Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with newly promoted Hull on Saturday was about more than two dropped points. Mohamed Belloumi’s first-half equaliser ensured the Blues have now gone 20 consecutive Premier League matches without keeping a clean sheet — their first run of that length since 1961. talkSPORT reported that Chelsea’s previous longer sequence stretched to 31 matches between November 1960 and August 1961.
It was exactly the problem Alonso had addressed before Hull’s visit. With Chelsea already on a 19-game league run without a shutout, the manager insisted defensive improvement would arrive.
“They will come; I am 100% sure they will come,” Alonso said of clean sheets before the match, adding that Chelsea needed to improve quickly.
Instead, the streak got longer.
Six minutes exposed Chelsea again
Morgan Rogers had given Chelsea an ideal start, scoring after only seven minutes. But the match changed rapidly.
Belloumi equalised in the 28th minute after Chelsea failed to deal with a relatively straightforward situation, with Jorrel Hato misjudging the ball before the Hull winger finished. Just six minutes later, Belloumi struck again, his effort taking a deflection off Levi Colwill as Hull went 2-1 ahead. The Guardian’s match report described a Chelsea side that controlled plenty of possession but remained vulnerable without the ball.
João Pedro eventually rescued Chelsea in the 66th minute following work from Cole Palmer, but there was no winner.
The defensive numbers are becoming difficult to dismiss. Chelsea have now conceded at least twice in all four of their opening Premier League matches this season — the first time they have done that in a decade.
Another unwanted piece of history
There was another unusual statistic hidden in the result. Chelsea have now failed to win five consecutive home league matches against newly promoted opposition. Before this run, the club had reached five only once, between April 1947 and September 1948.
Hull, meanwhile, remain unbeaten after four Premier League games and leave Stamford Bridge with eight points. They had entered Saturday without conceding a league goal before Rogers finally broke that record. Alonso had warned beforehand that Hull’s seven points and three clean sheets were no accident.
Chelsea can certainly score. Keeping opponents out is proving far harder — and after Hull, a problem Alonso promised would improve has instead reached a mark Chelsea last encountered in 1961.
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