Fulham manager Álvaro Arbeloa said his team showed the right energy despite a 3-2 loss against Chelsea on Monday. Arbeloa said his players showed the character he wants to see this season.

João Pedro scored within 31 seconds to put Chelsea in front, but Josh King equalised in the 23rd minute. Subsequently, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer scored on either side of the break to give a 3-1 lead to the visitors. Gonzalo Garcia got one back for Fulham in the 54th minute, but the home team failed to find the equaliser.

“I think we keep improving and that will take time. But it’s the first game of the season and I have been seeing all the games in the Premier League and you can feel that no one is ready,” Arbeloa said.

“But I saw tonight the energy that I want to see, the high press that we want to make. And like I said to my players, we are going to play in this way and we’re going to try to play in this way no matter who is in front of us.

“So that’s not easy because we are going to face very good teams with very top players, but we are going to try for sure. And we need to play with that character and that ambition and that energy that is very important for us that we fight from the first minute until last.”

The former Real Madrid manager showered praise on Josh King after the 19-year-old impressed with his game against the Blues.

“I have been talking all summer with Josh King. What a player you have here. Amazing. What a player. Unbelievable. But I knew his talent, but with talent and with quality for this type of player, it’s not enough,” he said.

“They need to make numbers like Gonzalo or like Oscar [Bobb] or like César [Palacios] or Kevin. We have very young players with a lot of talent, but they need to score goals because at the end it’s the most important thing in football and I hope they can score many goals this season.”

Fulham will face AFC Wimbledon in the second round of the EFL Cup on Thursday.