Chelsea's Defensive Woes Persist Despite Draw with Hull
Hull’s fearless start to life back in the Premier League rolled right through Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea’s free-scoring attack again had to bail out a defence that looks anything but convincing.
Xabi Alonso’s side needed their stars to drag them to a 2-2 draw. Hull walked away wondering how they didn’t win it.
‘JP Morgan’ still cashing in
If you’re looking at Chelsea from a Fantasy perspective, the picture is brutally simple. The attack is humming. The defence is chaos.
Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro – quickly dubbed ‘JP Morgan’ – all delivered again. No agonising over which three Blues to own. It’s those three, and then a long, hard stare at anything in a blue shirt behind them.
Chelsea struck first. Pedro slipped a neat pass into Rogers, who smashed home the opener with the kind of conviction that’s turning him into a staple in mid-price midfields. Hull had barely had a kick by that point.
Then the game flipped.
Hull fought back, Chelsea lost control, and Palmer’s army of captainers and Triple Captainers watched on anxiously as the match drifted away from the script. The numbers underline it: Pedro’s goal and assist came from his only shot and only key pass of the afternoon. Rogers, aside from the goal and a late chance created by Palmer, didn’t exactly drown in opportunities either.
Still, when Chelsea needed saving, the front three answered. Palmer drove low across goal, Pedro slid in for the equaliser, and the Fantasy points stacked up: eight for Rogers, five for Palmer, 12 for Pedro. Efficient. Clinical. Just about enough.
Behind them, though, the picture was far uglier.
Alonso’s back line on the brink
Chelsea’s defensive record already felt flimsy. Hull tore another hole in it.
Across the first four Gameweeks, the Blues’ front three have combined for 14 attacking returns. It’s a title-chasing output from the forwards, sabotaged by relegation-zone standards at the back.
Hull didn’t just threaten. They out-created Chelsea on expected goals, and did so comfortably. It was the first time this season the Tigers had managed that against any Premier League opponent.
Alonso didn’t hide from it.
“Overall, I think that we are attacking better than defending, in every part,” he said. “We know that it’s a big topic and a big theme for us. For sure, it’s just four games, but the dynamic in terms of conceding, I don’t like it, and we need to do much better. Open play, set-pieces, long balls, this toughness, this competitive sense; we can do better.”
The numbers back him up. Chelsea conceded twice as many big chances as they created: four for Hull, two for the hosts. The switch to a 4-2-3-1 – a shape trialled in pre-season – only seemed to loosen the structure further.
Then there’s the rotation. After Maxence Lacroix was benched, only Jorell Hato could still claim to have started all four league games. Even that streak came with an asterisk: he was hauled off at half-time after a torrid opening 45 minutes.
Chopping and changing the back line, tweaking the system, searching for balance – right now it all looks like a work in progress. For Fantasy managers, the takeaway is blunt: if you own attacking assets like Kevin Schade or Igor Thiago ahead of Gameweek 5, you don’t need to fear this Chelsea defence.
Hull refuse to blink
This wasn’t quite a repeat of that famous 0-4 shellacking Fulham handed out to Hull in London years ago, but for the visitors, it felt almost as sweet.
Four games into the season, Hull’s unbeaten run is starting to feel less like a fluke and more like a statement. They were meant to be fodder. They look anything but.
Yes, they’re likely riding the adrenaline of promotion. Yes, the numbers will probably cool. But right now, they’re organised, brave and playing with a freedom that top-flight defences are struggling to handle.
They’ve already shown they can dig in and suffer without the ball. At Stamford Bridge, they showed something else: ambition.
For half an hour, they were second best. Then Mohamed Belloumi detonated the game.
His thumping half-volley, lashed in after Chelsea failed to clear properly, jolted Hull to life. Confidence surged. The Algerian winger started to torment his flank, slipping a clever pass to Lewis Coyle for a blocked effort, then seeing his own shot deflect in for Hull’s second.
At 2-1 up, they were inches from a famous win. Oli McBurnie had a huge chance to make it 3-1, denied only by sharp goalkeeping. Substitute Mohamed Ali-Cho also forced a big save. Both opportunities showed up prominently on Hull’s xG map, a cluster of high-quality chances that told the story of a side not just surviving, but swinging hard.
Sergej Jakirovic has them believing. His tactical clarity and dry, understated delivery in press conferences have already turned heads. His team is doing the rest.
Next up: Newcastle United. On this evidence, Eddie Howe’s side have been warned.
Mendy blow clouds the mood
Hull’s afternoon did carry a sting. Nobel Mendy’s outing ended after a sickening clash of heads with Joao Pedro. He lasted 58 minutes before being withdrawn and later taken to hospital.
Jakirovic didn’t sugar-coat the situation.
“Yeah, not good. I think we are thinking it’s a concussion. He went to the hospital and after head scan, we will know more, but it’s concussion 100%,” he said. “Mendy will be out, 100%, so we need to find a new player.”
It continues a frustrating pattern for the centre-half, who has yet to complete 70 minutes in a league match this season.
The silver lining is the presence of Lucas Herrington. The £4.0m defender looks an assured understudy and should step in without much disruption. Around him, there were more positive signs: Semi Ajayi thundered a header off the bar, while John Egan delivered again for those mining the budget DefCon options.
Hull leave west London with another result, another layer of credibility, and another test on the horizon.
Chelsea leave with their attacking trio still shining, their defence still creaking, and a question that won’t go away: how long can this imbalance last before it costs them something bigger than two points at home to a newly promoted side?
