Xabi Alonso blames Chelsea after Sunderland shock

"I haven’t seen it back. Nothing to comment on the referee. It is something that is our fault. We could have done better," Xabi Alonso said after Chelsea's 0-1 defeat at Sunderland in the Premier League on 2026-11-08. Enzo Le Fée scored the only goal from the penalty spot in the 36th minute after Levi Colwill was judged to have fouled Brian Brobbey.

Alonso's verdict on Chelsea's display

He did not have much interest in arguing over the decision. His complaint was about what Chelsea did before and after it, and it was a blunt one. "I think we didn’t deserve more than probably one point. Not much happened, to be honest. We didn’t produce enough to deserve to win," he said, adding that the team missed "a bit of patience, a bit of quality, a bit of creativity on the last third."

The wider issue for Chelsea is not just one poor afternoon. They sit fifth in the Premier League, with 19 league goals and 16 conceded in 10 matches. They have won 5 of their 10 league games, which is a decent start by table position, but not a convincing one by performance level.

The penalty dispute

Mike Penders offered the other side of the argument. Speaking to Metro after the match, he said: "For me it wasn’t a penalty. He barely touched him, I think it was the other way round. He grabbed him." That leaves the incident as a live dispute, even if Alonso refused to turn it into one.

Alonso's second point was that Sunderland did not overwhelm Chelsea from open play. "From transitions out of almost nothing he got a couple of chances, he got the penalty as well," he said. "But we have been preparing for that, we have tried, we could have done better. He is not unstoppable. He is stoppable but when you defend better than we did today."

Sunderland began the day 18th with only 2 league wins from 10 matches, so this was not a result that sat neatly with the table. Chelsea leave the Stadium of Light with the points gone and Alonso pointing at their own execution rather than the referee.