Xabi Alonso had a disappointing afternoon at Stamford Bridge on Saturday (Picture: Getty Images)
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso insists he still has confidence in goalkeeper Mike Penders and expects the youngster will want to prove he can improve on the pitch.
The 21-year-old has been thrust into the starting XI due to Emiliano Martinez suffering a broken jaw.
Penders came off the bench in the win over Everton to make his Premier League debut and made his first start in the top flight on Saturday against Tottenham.
It was a disappointing evening for the ‘keeper as he punched the ball into his own net to hand Spurs their opener with an own goal.
Alonso has backed his young stopper, just as he supports another youngster in Geovany Quenda, who filled in for injuredJoao Pedro with little success.
‘It’s part of the business; you need to deal with mistakes and we keep confidence in Mike,’ said the Blues boss.
Mike Penders punched the ball into his own net for Tottenham’s opener (Picture: Getty Images)
‘We win and we lose together and it’s part of the job to deal with mistakes, myself as well as everyone.
‘We support Mike and Geo [Quenda] as well, the guys starting their first [Premier League] games. He will want to prove he can do better — and we also have to show that.’
Chelsea centre-back Maxence Lacroix added on Penders: ‘He is a young goalkeeper and he has a lot of talent. He will learn from this. This can happen in football careers and in life.
Penders has stepped up due to Emiliano Martinez being injured (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Everyone makes mistakes, and we have to be with him and we are going to be with him. We are behind him. He will help us this season and now we have to help him.’
Defeat to Spurs continued a mixed start to the campaign for Alonso’s new-look Chelsea, which has seen them win four, draw one and lose three of their eight league fixtures.
It has been an inconsistent start for a lot of teams, though, so the Blues still sit fifth in the early table.
Martinez is expected to return in November, but will certainly be out for the next two matches before the end of October.
Those games see Chelsea travel to Liverpool on Wednesday in the League Cup last 16 and then host Manchester United on Saturday in the Premier League.
The loss, which sparked raucous boos from the unhappy Old Trafford faithful, means United have won just two of their first 12 games of the 2026-27 campaign.
Carrick guided his former club to a third-place finish last season but the Red Devils are currently just 16th, one point above the relegation zone.
The ‘most likely’ outcome, according to The i Paper, is that Carrick will be axed, despite some within the club sympathising with the manager following United’s subdued summer transfer window.
It is also claimed that Manchester United view Howe as the frontrunner for the job should they decide to sack Carrick just five minutes after his appointment as permanent manager.
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher both expect Carrick to be relieved of his duties after another humbling defeat, this time to Bournemouth.
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‘Michael Carrick needs to be relieved of his duties tonight,’ Liverpool legend Carragher said on Sky Sports.
‘Not just for the good of Manchester United but also for the good of Michael Carrick. Manchester United need to make that decision tonight.
‘It’s become untenable. Michael Carrick wants to be changed. He doesn’t want to be sat in the dugout with those players.
Carrick is on the brink of being sacked (Picture: Getty)
‘Can you imagine going into the training ground tomorrow with Bruno Fernandes after not bringing him on? It’s a rancid dressing room. He wants to be put out of his misery tonight.’
Former Manchester United captain Neville added: ‘It is going to get ridiculously difficult for Michael Carrick to be manager moving forward.
‘I did think last season that the club should have gone for the best manager they could have got and not given the job to Michael Carrick because I felt this might happen.
‘But this has gone very, very sour very quickly and the club is a mess. Carrick is popular. But the owners, the sporting department and the players are not popular. They have badly let the club down.
‘Tomorrow, they will probably make a decision that will disgust Manchester United fans but it is probably necessary.
‘The Manchester United fans are singing Carrick’s name because the reality tomorrow is: will he be the manager?’
Next up for Manchester United is a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Xabi Alonso’ Chelsea on Saturday.
Antonio Conte has been heavily linked with Manchester United in recent days (Picture: Getty)
Rene Meulensteen says he would ‘not be a supporter’ of Manchester United appointing Antonio Conte, predicting the hotheaded Italian would bring the club ‘crashing down really quickly’.
Conte is among the favourites to take over the reins at Old Trafford should Michael Carrick lose his job as head coach on the back of a miserable eight-match winless streak for the Red Devils.
According to The Telegraph, a final decision over Carrick’s future has not yet been made – but United’s hierarchy will hold crisis talks over the next 24 hours to discuss possible next steps.
It comes just five months on from Carrick being handed the role on a full-time basis after steering United to a third-placed finish and Champions League qualification last season.
‘Since Sir Alex Ferguson left, systematically, the whole club has been dismantled of everything that it stood for,’ Meulensteen – who served as a coach under Ferguson – told talkSPORT the morning after United’s latest setback.
‘The stability and continuity that Sir Alex Ferguson created with a great professional and winning culture has been replaced by incompetence and inconsistency.
Carrick finds himself under intense pressure at Old Trafford (Picture: Reuters)
Former Chelsea and Spurs boss Conte would be a disaster at United, says Meulensteen (Picture: PA)
‘That’s been shown through all the managers they’ve had and I think Michael Carrick is number eight.
‘You look at the recruitment, the players they’ve brought in over the years… for us, it was a very straightforward discussion: we looked at being or becoming.
‘What I mean by that is we could bring players in that we knew would perform in the Premier League, i.e. Robin van Persie. “Becoming” was more younger players, 23 years and younger, who were a little bit “being” but still had a lot to come to improve as players.
‘But the key, underlining thing was whether they were going to make a difference for us. If that wasn’t the case then they weren’t good enough, simple as that.
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‘I think that’s gone out the window because it’s been replaced by mediocrity.’
Meulensteen has been left scratching his head over the speed with which United’s squad have gone from ‘playing with smiles on their faces’ to producing performances like that against Bournemouth at the weekend.
‘Four or five months ago when Michael Carrick started, seven games, six wins and one draw, including Manchester City and Arsenal,’ the Dutchman added.
‘They were playing with energy, intensity, players in the right spots, they played with a smile on their face… where has that gone? How has that derailed so quickly in such a short period of time? I can’t put my finger on it.’
Conte is rumoured to be on United’s shortlist of managerial candidates (Picture: Getty)
Eddie Howe is believed to be the frontrunner to replace Carrick in the hot seat following his departure at Newcastle in the summer.
The 48-year-old is reportedly ‘open’ to the idea of taking over at the Theatre of Dreams as he actively looks for a route back into Premier League management.
Julian Nagelsmann, Fabian Hurzeler and Conte are just some of the other high-profile names being linked with the position in the north west.
Howe is the favourite to take charge at the Theatre of Dreams (Picture: Getty)
On the prospect of ex-Chelsea and Tottenham manager Conte taking charge, Meulensteen replied: ‘I’ve seen that name being said and I would not be a supporter of that appointment at all.
‘I think that would maybe get a very short uplift but it would come crashing down really, really quickly knowing the way that Conte goes about his job.
‘I wouldn’t be in favour of that.
The Red Devils are languishing down in 16th in the Premier League table (Picture: Reuters)
‘If you asked me any other names, I couldn’t tell you, because the problem is not the next manager.
‘Yes, he needs to be a strong personality, a strong character with great, strong views about the way he wants to do things. But every other manager that has been there before has, reading between the lines, said the same thing.
‘The problem is that the ownership has Manchester United in a headlock. That’s the problem and they can’t get out it.’
As speculation mounted linking him with United last week, Conte released a statement stressing that he would only be prepared to join a club if the ‘conditions are right’.
Conte led Chelsea to the Premier League title in 2017 (Picture: Getty)
The 57-year-old has been out of job since reaching an agreement to terminate his contract at Napoli in May.
‘Following recent media reports in Italy and abroad, I feel it is appropriate to clarify my position,’ Conte said in a statement last Friday.
‘My name has been linked with numerous clubs, but there are currently no negotiations at an advanced stage. Following a wonderful and successful spell in charge of Napoli, I will take the time I need to consider how and when to return to management. It will be a carefully considered decision, one l will make when I believe the conditions are right.
‘I have read reports of financial demands and requests for full control that I have supposedly already made to the clubs mentioned, as well as reservations about what has been described as my “strong personality”. These reports are unfounded, as there is currently no concrete basis for such assessments.
‘Should a concrete opportunity arise, that will be the time to hold discussions with the club concerned and jointly consider the terms of a potential agreement, with due regard for both parties’ needs and the qualities and approach that define my work as a manager.
‘Until then, any assumptions about my demands and my professional future remain speculation and cannot be treated as fact.’
United return to Premier League action against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
Just three days later, the Red Devils switch their focus back to Champions League matters with a group-stage clash at home to Roma.
