Xabi Alonso slams Chelsea's dropped 'competitive mentality'

Xabi Alonso accused his Chelsea players of losing their "competitive mentality" after a 3-0 defeat by Brentford left the Blues winless in three matches going into the three-week international break.

It was Chelsea's first defeat to their west London neighbours since Brentford's promotion to the Premier League in 2021, and the first game this season in which Alonso's side failed to score.

"We dropped our consistency and competitive mentality in the second half," Alonso said. "The small details can be decisive. You hand over the advantage on small details; they punish it. And credit to them."

Brentford climbed to third and extended their unbeaten run.

"It’s only five games and each game in a competitive Premier League is really hard. We knew that it was going to be hard, it's nothing new," Alonso said.

He went further when pressed on his players' mentality, telling Sky Sports: "This is not enough to compete in the Premier League. We were not able to maintain our level for the full 90 minutes and that's why we were punished today. It's about everything. It's about the mentality, the football and the tactical things that we need to keep improving. We can do much better."

Keith Andrews, the Brentford manager, said his side had shown the resilience that Chelsea lacked. "We've shown different kind of attributes in the last few weeks where we've had to dig deep, show real great resilience," Andrews said.