The two West London clubs got the weekend’s Premier League action underway at the Gtech, both hoping to come away with all three points.
Chelsea were without two of their most important players heading into the game, with Pedro, 24, and James, 26, forced to watch from the stands.
Speaking about captain James ahead of the game, Alonso made sure to waylay any potential anxieties about his fitness.
"He's had a little injury in his hamstring. He tried and we waited until this morning. He tried to make it but he couldn't,” he said.
“Now we have enough time to prepare for the next one. He was just short of recovering."
As for Pedro, the Spaniard confirmed that he is injured but has full confidence in Danny Welbeck to lead the line.
"You have another front three with Danny and Pedro,” Alonso said.
“I think we wanted to have a good enough squad to deal with injury, in this case Joao. Danny has connections and scored here last season - we are prepared for tonight.
“We always try to assess the whole squad, what we have today, a tough game for sure. We need to deal with situations but always the most competitive one."