Two Spanish head coaches make their first appearances in a Premier League dugout this evening at Craven Cottage.
Alvaro Arbeloa takes charge of Fulham for the first time in a competitive game, while Xabi Alonso does likewise for Chelsea.
Both managers, of course, spent time in charge of Real Madrid last season.
Kick-off in west London is at 20:00 BST.
TEAM NEWS
There are a few surprises on – or missing from – the Chelsea teamsheet.
Moises Caicedo and Marco Palestra were both expected to be in the Blues’ starting XI this evening but miss out.
Their absences sound precautionary:
Alonso says Caicedo and Palestra had setbacks during the week and he did not want to risk them for #CFC tonight
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) August 24, 2026
Those two are among four changes from Chelsea’s final pre-season friendly XI against Real Sociedad.
Wesley Fofana is injured and Pedro Neto drops to the bench.
Josh Acheampong, Malo Gusto, Jorell Hato and Romeo Lavia come into the line-up.
Arbeloa goes with the same team he sent out in the Cottagers’ final warm-up match of the summer.
Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacios get their Premier League debuts.
LINE-UPS
Chelsea XI: Sanchez, Acheampong, Lacroix, Colwill, Gusto, Lavia, James, Hato, Palmer, Joao Pedro, Rogers.
Subs: Penders, Chavarria, Barco, Fernandez, Neto, Gittens, Estevao, Welbeck, Quenda.
Fulham XI: Leno, Castagne, Cuenca, Bassey, Robinson, King, Berge, Iwobi, Bobb, Garcia, Palacios
Subs: Lecomte, De Gougerolles, Tete, Reed, Charles, Sessegnon, Kevin, Smith Rowe, Muniz.
LIVE GAMEWEEK PAGE + MATCH CENTRE
You can follow the evening’s action via the Live Gameweek page, which you can find in the all-new FPL Toolkit section.
Here you can follow the scores, watch the defensive contribution (DefCon) points roll in, see who the leading players are for xG and more as the games play out.
And there’s also the all-new Match Centre to explore.
A snapshot of this page is below; it’s basically a condensed version of the one you can find in the Members Area.
