Oct 26, 2026, 08:23 AM ET

Xabi Alonso and Maxence Lacroix have thrown their support behind Mike Penders after the 21-year-old's own goal led to Saturday's 2-0 loss to Tottenham.

The Belgian goalkeeper made his first Premier League start at Stamford Bridge, where he punched the ball into his own net from a corner in the 77th minute.

Cole Palmer was then sent off for a second yellow card, and Mathys Tel wrapped up the win with an 87th-minute goal.

Blues boss Alonso, who confirmed Penders would start Wednesday's Carabao Cup fourth-round meeting at Liverpool, told the club's website: "It's part of the business; you need to deal with mistakes and we keep confidence in Mike.

"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."

Lacroix said: "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.

"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."

Sunday's defeat was only the second time Chelsea have lost to Spurs at home in the Premier League era.

The Blues will travel to Anfield for the cup clash before taking on struggling Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday.

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Lacroix added: "[Liverpool] is a big game for us. We want to go far in this competition and it's good that we have a game like this now.

"We have to move on and work on some details to be stronger in certain moments and change some situations.

"We have to show the reaction of a competitor. We want to show another face, we want to win there, and it's going to be a big game."