Having only signed for Chelsea four months ago Marcos Alonso has already entered the record books, but his immediate target is helping the Blues build on our impressive 13-game winning streak by overcoming Tottenham Hotspur in north London tonight.
Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Stoke City meant Alonso, an August arrival from Italian side Fiorentina, became the only top-flight player to win his first 14 starts for an English club.
Alonso made his full debut in our 4-2 EFL Cup win over Leicester in September and, after coming off the bench in our next game at Arsenal, he was back in the starting line-up for the 2-0 victory at Hull City, where he has remained since. Alonso didn’t feature in the only game we haven’t won since then, away at West Ham United in the EFL Cup.
‘I’m very happy to have made history but, to be honest, the only thing I’m focused on right now is winning the game tonight, that’s the main thing both for myself and the team,’ the Spaniard tells the official Chelsea website.
‘The run we have been on is great, the team have been doing really well and we’ve won some very difficult games in different ways. We’ve come from behind in certain matches and then we’ve had big wins, like the one against Manchester United. It’s been a fantastic run and now we want to keep our concentration and keep working hard.’
Should the run continue, Alonso is also within sight of the record for the highest number of consecutive Premier League winning starts, currently held by former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben whose 20-game sequence was set between December 2004 and January 2006.
Alonso’s winning run dates back to 2014, when he won four games late in the season while on loan at Sunderland, meaning he needs three more victories to equal Robben’s tally.
‘It’s going to be tough for me because we have some very difficult games coming up,’ admits Alonso.
‘We just want to take it game by game, the next one is Tottenham away and that’s all we are thinking about.’
Tonight’s match, our first of 2017, will undoubtedly be a stern test as we face a side who have hit form in recent weeks and are unbeaten at home in the league this season.
Alonso, though, has full confidence in the abilities of both himself and his team-mates as we look to get the new year off to a perfect start.
‘It will be very tough, just like the home game we played against them,’ he says. ‘We will need to play with a high tempo and be fully concentrated for 90 minutes.
‘Hopefully we can score a few goals and take the three points back to Stamford Bridge with us.’
