Rogers credits Alonso and Henderson as Chelsea make another flying start

Morgan Rogers says Xabi Alonso’s team talks are helping Chelsea begin matches at high intensity after they opened up a 5-1 win over Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea scored twice inside the first three minutes on Saturday, with Jordan Henderson finding the net after one minute before setting up Rogers for the second.

It was the quickest Chelsea have established a two-goal lead in a Premier League match. They have scored first within the opening seven minutes in five of their six league games this season, including five goals inside the first four minutes.

Rogers believes that aggressive beginning has become a key part of Chelsea’s approach.

“It was a bit mad,” he said. “I think we were on the front foot straight away and that’s what you’ve got to be, especially at home. You’ve got to get the crowd behind you.

“To start like that, it gives you such an advantage moving forward into the game. That kind of set us off and got the precedent rolling.”

The forward attributed Chelsea’s intensity to the preparation provided by Alonso.

“I put it down to the manager’s team talks before. He gets us firing, gets us going. But we always want to start off on the front foot,” Rogers added.

He said the early response was especially significant against a Bournemouth team he regarded as a strong side playing good football. Chelsea converted their early advantage into a dominant victory rather than allowing their momentum to fade.

Henderson was the central figure on his first appearance for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge since arriving at the club in the European summer. He scored the opener, assisted Rogers and completed the scoring with an outstanding free-kick to win the fans’ Player of the Match award.

Rogers rejected any suggestion that Henderson’s age might restrict his impact, praising both his fitness and ability.

“People said he was too old and you see what he does,” Rogers said. “Everyone in the dressing room knows that he’s probably still the fittest player at the club, to be honest. He’s a machine.”

The 24-year-old added that Henderson’s experience should not obscure his technical quality.

“People forget about the football because they just think he’s that experienced head, but don’t get me wrong, the guy can still play football. He’s won everything in the game.

“You saw his quality there and we’ll see it for the rest of the season, I’m sure.”

Rogers expects Henderson to score more goals, particularly from set-pieces.

“Hopefully we’ll see more goals from him. He’s got the ability, super quality. That’s why he’s on the free-kick, because he’s got that ability to score from distance, and he did it twice on Saturday.”

He also joked about losing free-kick duties while away with the international team.

“They did it behind my back and then when I’ve got back I’m off free-kicks all of a sudden! Which I wasn’t the best happy about, but as long as we score, that’s the most important thing,” he said.

The result moved Chelsea up to sixth in the Premier League, with goal difference keeping them outside the top four.

Rogers agreed with Alonso that it was too soon to predict where Chelsea would finish.

“As the manager said, and he’s been saying all week, which is a good one which I’m going to use now: ‘We can finish bottom or we can finish first’,” he explained.

“There’s not been enough games to determine where we can finish and what we can do, and that’s how we’re taking it.”

Chelsea’s next league match is away to Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday. Rogers said the squad were focused on improving rather than studying the table.

“We want to improve ourselves and look at ourselves, which we will do, but we’re not looking up and not looking down. We’re just looking at ourselves, at how we can improve and get better.

“There’s a massive improvement already from the international break and having time off and players working. We’re working with the manager and trying to improve, so it’s been really good, and we’ve just got to keep moving forward and stay focused.”