The Brazilian scored his second goal of the season, a delightful right-footed curler into the top corner, after 61 minutes to give us the lead, and Diego Costa added a brilliant second soon after to seal the points.

It was a huge victory following two consecutive defeats in the Premier League, and Willian felt we were worthy winners.

‘We did a good job,’ he said. ‘In the first half we played well but didn’t score a goal. In the second half we were more concentrated on our final pass and we scored two goals, so congratulations to everyone and now we must keep going.

‘At half-time the manager told us to continue to press high up the pitch and we did it well.’

A number of our players now head off on international duty and when they return we face two stern tests – consecutive home matches against champions Leicester City and Manchester United.

‘We have to stay positive,’ Willian noted. ‘The season has only just started and there are so many games left to play. Now we have to continue in the same way in our games to come.’

Alonso, a deadline-day signing from Fiorentina, was deployed as a wing-back in a new-look 3-4-3 formation and he was delighted with the way we defended.

‘It’s the first game I’ve started in the Premier league for Chelsea, we got three points and a clean sheet so I’m very happy,’ he said.

‘We’ve been conceding a lot of goals and against Hull we were concentrated for 90 minutes and kept a clean sheet so that was good.’

Alonso also enjoyed Willian and Diego Costa's impressive and decisive strikes.

‘They were amazing goals. With the players we have you always have to expect fantastic goals because they have really good quality.

‘This is a top team and you have to fight to win every game in every competition.’

