In an intriguing match-up of the Premier League’s opening round, Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea and Alvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham meet at Craven Cottage on Monday night.Alonso and Arbeloa are old friends who played 262 games together for Liverpool, Real Madrid and Spain.They were also both sacked as managers by Real Madrid last season — Arbeloa in his first senior coaching role after being promoted from the reserve team to replace Alonso, who only lasted until January following a move from Bayer Leverkusen at the end of 2024-25.Fate bringing them together again now should perhaps have been expected, given how closely their careers have intertwined. It is a new start for both. Alonso was appointed as Chelsea’s new manager in May, with Arbeloa taking over at Fulham in early July.Arbeloa, 43, following in the footsteps of Alonso, 44, is a long-established trend.Alonso moved to Liverpool in August 2004, with Arbeloa arriving at Anfield in January 2007. Both then packed their bags for Real Madrid within weeks of each other in the summer of 2009.Central midfielder Alonso was the first to leave the Bernabeu, joining Bayern Munich in 2014. Arbeloa stayed two more years at Madrid before spending an injury-hit final season of his playing career at West Ham United.They also shared a pitch on 38 occasions representing Spain — winning the European Championship (2008, 2012) and the country’s first World Cup (2010).Both hung up their boots at the end of the 2016-17 campaign. In the summer of 2018, Alonso took his first coaching steps in Madrid’s academy, helming the under-13 side. Two years later, Arbeloa arrived at La Fabrica to take charge at the exact same level.Alonso then coached at Real Sociedad’s B team and at Bayer Leverkusen, where he won the German league and cup double in his debut campaign of 2023-24, losing just one match all season — the Europa League final against Atalanta.Arbeloa stayed at Madrid, working his way up the ranks before taking over as Real Madrid Castilla manager last summer — the reserve team that plays in Spain’s third tier. Just a few weeks later, Alonso got the first-team job.