Alvaro Arbeloa has performed at some big venues during his distinguished career including the Bernabeu, and is now excited to be playing every week at London Stadium.
Arbeloa, 33, arrives with a wealth of experience having won the World Cup with Spain and the Champions League with Real Madrid and was pleased to have finally made his debut for the east London Club.
The former Liverpool defender produced an impressive display and showed his versatility when he switched to left back late in the game after Arthur Masuaku was forced to leave the pitch through injury.
Dimitri Payet showed his quality once again when he scored the matchwinner in injury time with another superb free-kick.
And Arbeloa is now hoping the victory will set the team up nicely as they look to get back on the winning trail in the Premier League against Southampton on Sunday and cannot wait to play in front of the home fans once again.
Arbeloa said: “I am really happy to have made my debut and I am also very happy with the result because we needed to win this game. I am now looking forward to the next game.
“It was brilliant to see Dimi score the free-kick right at the end and I thought we played much better in the second half and controlled the game. I thought we deserved to win.
“I don’t like to compare players but I have some really good team-mates with amazing quality. Lanzini is an amazing player and I think we have a really good squad. We also have good young players with a lot of quality.
“I thought the atmosphere was amazing, as it was when I came to my first game against Watford. I think I am going to enjoy playing in this stadium.
“We need to get back to winning ways in the league and that is the most important thing.
“We have two games at home and with the fans behind us we need to win and restore our confidence.”
For Arbeloa in particular, this brings back a lot of memories as he played in a number of big cup games against the west London Club during his spell at Liverpool.
The talented full-back has no doubts his team-mates will be relishing the chance to play in a big London derby and hopes they can celebrate a famous victory in front of their own fans at London Stadium.
Arbeloa added: “I think it is a really good game for us and our supporters. You always want to play against one of the best clubs and Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs.
“I have had some really good games playing against them so it will be good for all the players.
“I have some friends at Chelsea and I am sure we will see a really good game.”