Chelsea 4-3 Brighton & Hove Albion: Xabi Alonso talks up winning "whatever it takes" after Stamford Bridge thriller

Xabi Alonso has acknowledged that Chelsea need to "manage" leads better, despite talking up the importance of the 4-3 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon.

Playing their third game in the space of a week, the Blues started sharply and stormed into a 3-0 lead by the 32nd-minute mark.

However, with Chelsea squandering opportunities, Brighton cut the deficit to one goal and had the momentum before Cole Palmer curled home a delightful fourth for the home side.

Although Brighton made it 4-3 in the 95th minute, Alonso's side had already done enough to record back-to-back victories in the Premier League.

Alonso reacts to Chelsea, Brighton seven-goal thriller

Speaking at a press conference after the game, Alonso stressed that achieving maximum points was all that mattered, rather than how Chelsea did it or the fact that they only had 25% of possession.

The Spaniard told reporters: "You need to have context to every data for sure. After 30 minutes we have scored [to make it] 3-0, probably in that moment we have played too much with the result instead of keep playing.

"So the data is not important, it is how you play and what we can do better. But it is never that approach, I don't say today we need to have 60% or 20%. I never talk about those things, it is about how to prepare, how to be more competitive.

"But the good thing is that you need to adapt, even during the game there are different moments and some moments that we have done really, really well and other moments that we can do better."

He added: "All the wins, I enjoyed them a lot. But it was a game of different moments, different feelings and at the end we are happy with the result.

"For sure we value a lot this win against a very good opponent that was tough in the last years. So we are happy with that. But for sure there are things, moments that we have done really well, other moments that this is a process.

"We are in the process to keep learning from us, to keep improving and normally it is easier with a win."

What next for Chelsea?

Attention now turns to the transfer market with Chelsea looking to secure the signing of Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara.

Meanwhile, there are expected to be outgoings, with goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and midfielder Emiliano Martinez potentially leaving Stamford Bridge.

BlueCo will hope also to facilitate exits for a number of fringe players and academy prospects, either to bolster their financial position or to enable youngsters to take the next step of their development.

Chelsea are not back in action until next weekend when they make the trip to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal on September 6.