Xabi Alonso has spoken to the reporters following Chelsea's clash against Everton. Pedro Neto fired the Blues to a hard-fought 2-0 win over Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday afternoon, finding the net at the start and end of the second half with a pair of composed finishes.

Although the winger stole the limelight in Merseyside, Emi Martinez, who was forced to come off following a collision with Jarrad Branthwaite, and Mike Penders helped Chelsea finally keep a clean sheet in the Premier League. The Blues hadn't done so since January 2026, when they beat Brentford 2-0 at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Nevertheless, speaking to reporters after the game, the Chelsea manager provided an update on his number one, fawned over the spirit shown by his players, and heaped praise on Neto... refusing, in jest of course, to be drawn into debate about his position!

Alonso also heaped praise on Jorrel Hato, who replaced the injured Pep Chavarria, for his performance, having been a late addition to the starting lineup. Towards the end of the press conference, the Spaniard explained why his players have had the bit between their teeth since the international break.

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So, with that being said, football.london has transcribed every word from Alonso's post-match press conference.

How proud are you of getting the first clean sheet, but how concerned are you about Emi Martinez?

Well, first about Emi, what we know is that he left the stadium conscious and right now he's in the hospital doing precautionary tests, so we need to wait, and, for sure, hopefully it won't be too bad, but we need to wait at the moment. And yeah, really pleased with the performance, with the win, with the clean sheet, many positives to build from today.

We knew that it was going to be a hard challenge to win in this stadium, but we did many things to deserve the win. I think that we got many things right, going through very clean, very professional, very solid, and it's good to have this feeling to win this way.

Do you know if it's a concussion with Martinez or is it something else essentially?

It was the concussion, but more than that, I saw just one clip, and we need to wait now.

What about Mike? How did he get on today?

He did well. You could see what's about Emi, his personality, he's brave, and we have full trust with him. He played in the cup games, and whenever he's needed, like the other players, whenever they are needed, they can perform, like Jorel.

He did really well today as well, coming in the first game after the little problem with Pep. This is all about the squad, so that all the players feel important, that they will have their moment whenever they are needed, and that's very positive as well.

Can I just check what the injuries were?

Malo [Gusto] was ill yesterday, and he was not feeling well [enough] to come here to Liverpool. Pep [Chavarria's] last action in training, he felt something, so tomorrow he's having the test to have the full information about the injuries, but he was not feeling well enough to compete for today.

Just on Pedro Neto, how has he taken to being a wing-back? Has he surprised you?

You think he's a wing-back?

Is he more of a winger?

You can call him whatever. Winger, wing-back, attacking position, defending, he can do many things. Today, he's done well, he's so competitive. When he's close to the actions, he's a threat against any other full-back. When he's on the last line or in between, he connects well with the players around, with Joao [Pedro], with Cole [Palmer], today with Josh [Acheampong] as well.

They were really well, but I'm happy that he could score. Today, Cole, Joao, Morgan [Rogers]– they didn't score, but for me, they played a fantastic game. They worked really hard, [and] they were helping the team. Morgan on the wing, Cole and Joao in the middle. We need a lot from that to win as a team, and many positives.

Do you like the spirit the team showed?

Absolutely, because we will have many of these ones. We needed to feel that we could win in this way, looking solid, playing solid, being strong, looking in control, going through difficult moments. First half, there were moments when there were throw-ins, corners, corners, throw-ins.

You need to go through and overcome those moments. Knowing that it's very hard to have full control of the game during the whole minute, that you don't lose your shape, you don't lose your conviction of the things you are doing.

Today we did that really well, we have a spunk in the half-time. The first goal was going to be key, to go either one way or the other. It went our way, but I think that's because we deserved it. I think we did a very good game.

During talks with the club, when you were discussing taking over, you were talking about building mentality monsters. Is that what we saw today? Is that the blueprint for what you're looking for?

It's one day. We need to repeat and repeat and again and again to know. But for sure, the mentality was very good because we knew that it was not about playing nice. Sometimes it's not just to play nice, it's to play good.

We played good football, we won many duels, many second balls. We knew how to be efficient in different situations. That's something that we will build from the future; we will build a lot of things from today's game. We needed one of these, with the clean sheet, with the win after the defeat in Brentford. The feeling was that it was not enough, and today has been better.

Psychologically, getting that clean sheet, that drought without a clean sheet, do you think that's key for the squad?

It's just one. It will be key when we are able to manage ten clean sheets. The first one feels good, and it was needed. But now the goal is to be consistent and to keep doing that.

We've seen the team go very direct a lot over the course of the season, to Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro specifically. When they were signed, was that a plan in mind to play more direct football, or is this adapting to your opposition?

No, it's adapting to the context. Today, we knew that Everton sometimes can come one-versus-one, sometimes they can have plus one. So you need to choose how to be more efficient in your game. We know that they are strong enough, Joao and Morgan, to hold the duels.

The first goal, the way Morgan has held the ball, he dribbled from the left wing to make the pass to Jorrel [Hato]. You see that he's solid, he's complete, he's strong, and we need to use that power to be able to play more direct sometimes.

Also, we saw today that you made your first substitution in the 90th minute. Is the plan to let the players play?

It's the 90th minute, but there were 11 minutes, so you can see it was the 79th minute. It depends on the context, so it's not a plan. You prepare a few things, but you need to adapt to the circumstances. The team was looking good, it was in good shape, and I felt that the substitute players there were going to be needed, but in the right moment.

Moi [Caicedo], it was his second game, [and] he was a bit tired. Romeo [Lavia] played really well in those moments; he's in a good moment. So today things went our way.