Xabi Alonso fixes huge Chelsea problem that Enzo Maresca ignored and stumped Liam Rosenior

Chelsea did something they only managed once last season when they stormed past Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday night.

Chelsea were outrun in all but one Premier League fixture last season, finishing bottom of the table for average distance covered per match, yet they leapt out of the gates and managed to cover more distance than any other English top-flight club on the opening weekend of the new season.

Joao Pedro fired the Blues to victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday night, scoring the fastest goal on the first matchday of the Premier League in history. Josh King eventually levelled proceedings, beating Robert Sanchez at his near post, before Morgan Rogers restored Chelsea's advantage.

Cole Palmer etched his name onto the scoresheet shortly after the break, sliding the ball between the legs of Bernd Leno. Gonzalo Garcia pulled one back for Alvaro Arbeloa's side a few moments later, but the Blues stood strong and held onto the lead, banking three crucial points.

Desperate to win the first game of a new Premier League season for the first time in four years, Chelsea rather impressively covered more distance than any other English top-flight club. The Blues clocked 123.2km, while Fulham recorded 123.1km, just 100 metres fewer.

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Arsenal put in the hard yards when they faced Coventry City at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night, covering 119.8km, while Hull City chalked up 118.5km against Manchester United at the MKM Stadium. Bournemouth put in a shift, too, running 117.9km during their bout with Manchester City at the Etihad.

After matchday one, Xabi Alonso's side top the Premier League table for average distance covered per match, which is quite the improvement in light of the sluggish displays under Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior. Last season, the Blues were outrun in every English top-flight game until they faced Liverpool at Anfield in May 2026.

Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw by the Reds, clocking 103.6km in distance covered compared to the Reds' 102.9km. The shift in physicality didn't last long, with the Blues conceding blades of grass to Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland in each of the last two games of the campaign.

It's a small sample size, and only time will tell whether it was part of the game plan, but Alonso has clearly made a conscious effort to encourage the Chelsea players to cover more distance. Although it's not necessarily a performance indicator, the Spaniard's predecessors failed to tackle the Blues' lack of physicality.

Speaking to reporters in December 2025, Maresca tried to justify his side's lack of running. Before Chelsea were ironically outrun by seven kilometres and thrashed 3-1 by Leeds United at Elland Road, the Italian said: "Probably it's also the way the other team try to defend against us.

"Again, when they try to do high pressing, so that means that you have more space, you can run more because there is more space to attack. When they just sit back, there is not enough space to cover in terms of running behind.

"So personally, I think it depends on how the other team behaves. So I think this is the reason."

Then, in May 2025, Maresca suggested the lack of running was a squad-building issue, claiming that Chelsea did not have players who could cope with the physical demands of regular turnovers, hence the slower possession-based brand of football at the time.

The former Blues boss said: "We are not good enough for transition games. If you see our worst moments of the season, or games we struggled, they were all games where the game became transition."

Rosenior was unable to solve the physicality problem either. Shortly before he was sacked, the former Chelsea boss accused the players of lacking 'desire, spirit and courage', suggesting it was a psychological issue.

Speaking to reporters following a 3-0 defeat to Brighton at the Amex Stadium in April 2026, Rosenior said: "It is accountability. I have defended the players at times when it was the correct thing, but I can't defend that performance.

"It doesn't represent this football club, it doesn't represent anything I ask from the group, and that has to change. I feel numb. I'm so angry. I always speak on what I see, and that was unacceptable.

"The goals we conceded were unacceptable and that is something I have to hold my hands up to," added Rosenior. "I will look at the team, will look at individuals, and I will look at a team I can trust to do the basics of football, and we should not be talking about the basics of football at this level.

"It is something we have to adjust very quickly. Tonight was not [about] tactical. This was about desire, spirit, courage, and I did not see enough of that tonight. Nowhere near good enough and we have to improve that."

So, with that being said, over the next week or so, when Chelsea face Luton Town in the second round of the Carabao Cup and Brighton in the Premier League, it will be interesting to see whether Alonso has actually worked his magic...

Stats provided by Opta, TNT Sports, BBC, and Fotmob.