Alonso urges Chelsea to play with personality vs United

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso has told his players to return to winning ways by “playing with personality” when Manchester United visit in a lunchtime kick-off tomorrow. The Blues are coming off a rare home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and a penalty shootout exit from the Carabao Cup at Anfield.

“It's a big one,” Alonso said in his pre-match press conference. “We didn’t have much time to prepare, but it’s really important after the last home game that we keep winning games, and we have this winning feeling.”

Chelsea are fifth in the table with 13 points from eight matches. United are 16th with seven points, and they arrive after a 4-1 defeat to Como and a 3-0 loss to Bournemouth.

Alonso acknowledged his side would have preferred a longer turnaround between Wednesday's game on Merseyside and the return of Premier League action. He insisted, however, that his players will be “in the best possible condition for tomorrow” physically and mentally.

Alonso also said the team should ignore outside noise about the visitors. “We control what we can control. It's our preparation, our decisions, our mindset, knowing that they're a good team.”

He closed by pointing to the performance rather than the result. “I saw a better version of us on Wednesday than I saw on Saturday, even if the result wasn’t good in either, but I want to see more of the good version of us.”