Alonso: Composure key as Chelsea host Bournemouth

Xabi Alonso says learning to manage the uncontrollable moments in Premier League football is one of the defining challenges of his first season at Chelsea, ahead of Saturday's home fixture against Bournemouth.

'There's a moment that you can control, but to have total control of the game is almost impossible,' Alonso said. 'To be able to navigate that, even to feel comfortable, even to control or to have your emotional control when the game is not the way you want it, is very important. It takes time to have that composure to go through those moments.'

Bournemouth manager Marco Rose is equally new to the Premier League, also having arrived in England over the summer. The two coaches share a notable history — it was Rose's RB Leipzig side that ended Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen on a 35-game unbeaten Bundesliga run back in 2024.

Alonso acknowledged that both managers face a steep learning curve. 'It's the first year for Marco in the Premier League, for myself, and we'll have to learn quick, but because the game is so demanding, and because many teams stress you so much without the ball, you need to be able to manage the control and the no control,' he said.

Chelsea return to action after a lengthy international break, their last outing being a defeat at Brentford. Alonso is targeting greater defensive consistency across the five Premier League fixtures scheduled before the next pause — three at home, two away.

'In defence, we must concede less goals to have better chances to win games,' Alonso said. 'Now we want to build the stability patterns to repeat things that will give us this platform for the future as well.'