Joao Pedro’s 66th-minute goal spared Chelsea a shock defeat at home to Hull City as the Tigers remained unbeaten in the Premier League with a draw at Stamford Bridge.
Morgan Rogers fired the Blues, who had won their previous three home games in all competitions, into the lead in the sixth minute as Hull conceded for the first time this season.
extreme Mohamed Belloumi he found Ryan Giles’ rebound to equalize in the 28th minute, then struck again with a deflection six minutes later after Semi Ajayi had headed over the crossbar from a corner.
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso sent on Pep Chavarria for Jorrel Hato at half-time and, after Kostantinos Tzolakis had deflected blueliner Reece James’ goal, Joao Pedro equalized after Cole Palmer’s electric run down the right and a pass into the box.
Chelsea vs Hull: Blues ‘find a way’ to draw
Play-off winners Hull continue to be one of the stories of the season so far in the Premier League, moving to the top of the table live while they were ahead before Sergej Jakirovic’s side finally picked up their eighth point of the campaign.
Both teams came close to scoring in the closing stages, Tzolakis denying Rogers and Mohamed-Ali Cho’s effort being denied by Chelsea goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.
“It’s these kinds of games where Chelsea have to show the strength, the composure and the characters they have,” former Crystal Palace captain Joel Ward told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Those are the games that really matter. They will always face the (Manchester) Uniteds, the Arsenals and the (Manchester) Cities and they will always be ready for those kinds of games.
“But it’s when they face Hull, Ipswich, maybe those who are seen as lesser teams, that they really have to find a way to win and dominate.
“That’s what makes teams successful when they’re competing for the title.”
Team Chelsea vs Hull City
Malo Gusto and Levi Colwill were the only players to keep their places after Chelsea’s 6-3 win at home to Leeds United in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, coming back from 2-0 down.
Crystal Palace summer signing Maxence Lacroix dropped to the bench for the first time this season.
Chelsea: Emiliano Martinez, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Levi Colwill, Jorrel Hato, Reece James, Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro
Chelsea substitutes: Mike Penders, Josh Acheampong, Valentin Barco, Pep Chavarria, Willian Estevao, Jamie Gittens, Maxence Lacroix, Geovany Quenda, Danny Welbeck
Team Hull City vs Chelsea
Nobel Mendy, Lewie Coyle and Matt Crooks were the only three Hull starting players retained from their 1-0 defeat at Sunderland in the EFL Cup on Tuesday.
Crooks’ inclusion was the only change from the team that started last Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Aston Villa, with Lucas Gourna-Douath back on the bench.
Sorba Thomas was fit to take a place on the bench despite being involved in a car accident on Friday in which the new signing was uninjured.
Helmet: Kostantinos Tzolakis, Semi Ajayi, John Egan, Nobel Mendy, Lewis Coyle, Matt Crooks, Regan Slater, Ryan Giles, Mohamed Belloumi, Oli McBurnie, Elliot Stroud
Helmet Substitutes: Dillon Phillips, Mohamed-Ali Cho, Lucas Gourna-Douath, Lucas Herrington, Tim Iroegbunam, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Matt Targett, Sorba Thomas, Robinio Vaz
Chelsea vs Hull Stats, Premier League Form
- Chelsea are unbeaten in 11 Premier League meetings with Hull (V8 E3), only facing Portsmouth more times without losing in the competition (14)
- They have failed to win any of their last five home league games against newly promoted sides (D4 L1). Only once in their league history have the Blues gone five without a win at home to promoted opponents, from April 1947 to September 1948.
- Xabi Alonso’s side failed to win three consecutive Premier League games at Stamford Bridge for the first time since the final three of the 2024/25 campaign.
- Having gone 20 games without a goal in the league, Chelsea are on their longest run since a streak of 31 between November 1960 and August 1961 (31 games) and 22 from April to November 1953.
- Hull are unbeaten in 19 league visits to Chelsea (D4 D15), which is the most they have faced any team outside the top four without a win.
- They failed to become the first team since Manchester City in 2015/16 to keep a clean sheet in each of their opening four games of the Premier League season with no promoted side ever achieving the feat.
- The win at Coventry City on 29 August was Hull’s first in six league games (D2 L3). They also drew at Stoke City and lost to Sunderland in this season’s EFL Cup, although they beat Millwall away in the Championship play-offs on May 11 and defeated Middlesbrough at Wembley Stadium 12 days later to win promotion.
- Before this game, only Newcastle United (28%) had spent more time in a low block during the opposition build-up than Hull in the Premier League this season (26.5%).
- Oli McBurnie made his 100th Premier League appearance and had made 258 high-intensity pressures so far in the Premier League this season before kick-off, which was 74 more than any other player.
