Chelsea's weekend could not have started better, as they defeated Everton 2-0 in an early kick-off at the Hill Dickinson Stadium to secure their first league clean sheet of the season.

The first half, although finished 0-0, was far from a borefest, with both sides coming close to breaking the deadlock, with Emiliano Martinez making a tipped save to put Jack Grealish's deflected shot over the bar, whereas Moises Caicedo's rocket of a shot cannoned off the crossbar from Jordan Henderson's corner was Chelsea's best chance of the first half.

But it was Chelsea who got the first goal just 43 seconds into the second half, after good work from Morgan Rogers and Jorrel Hato down the left, with the ball falling to Pedro Neto, who coolly slotted the ball past Jordan Pickford to give Chelsea the lead.

Then came a worrying moment for Martinez and Chelsea fans as the Argentine was involved in a heavy collision with Jared Branthwaite, forcing the Chelsea goalkeeper to leave the game and leading to a stoppage of more than 10 minutes, with Mike Penders coming on to see out the remainder of the game.

Chelsea would put the game to bed in the 90th minute, with Neto getting his second of the day in similar vain to his first, placing the ball in Pickford's bottom right hand corner, after the ball fell to him after a Henderson free kick.

But despite a complete team performance, Martinez's injury grabbed the majority of the headlines after what looked like a really nasty clash with the Everton centre-half. Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Alonso spoke about his goalkeeper's current state, saying the former World Cup winner left the stadium conscious.

"As far as I know, he left the stadium conscious and right now is in hospital doing precautionary tests. Let’s see. But this is what I know so far."

Talking on a more positive note, Alonso was asked about Pedro Neto's performance and what impressed him the most about the Portuguese.

"He can do many things. Today, he did well. He's a threat against any full-back. I'm happy we could score. Cole, Joao, Morgan - they didn't score, but played a fantastic game."

One of the big positives Alonso would have taken from today's performance on Merseyside was that his side secured their first league clean sheet since a 2-0 win against Brentford on January 17, and with only one goal conceded since the resumption of the international break, many will hope this will be the start of a long defensive run for the Blues.

"After that, we were good with the ball, creating chances and not conceding much. To win away is always tough, and we got the clean sheet. We knew it was a matter of time and finally we got it."

Alonso and Chelsea can now look forward to a London derby at Stamford Bridge against Tottenham next Saturday, hoping to keep up their domination of Spurs, with Chelsea only losing one of their last 15 Premier League matches against the side from North London, Alonso said that he is looking forward to the challenge.

"We have another three Premier League games before the next international break, two of them at home. Tottenham and Man U. We need to go game by game, knowing that Tottenham at home is the next one… it will be a nice one."