And that, my old MBM friends, is your lot. Jacob Steinberg’s report has landed. You know what to do: clickity click! Thanks for reading this live blog. Stay safe. Nighty night!
Scott Parker talks. “We started compact, but they got a foothold in it. The last ten minutes before the sending off we had a massive chance. That had to go in. We had a little threat on the break in the second half. But I’ve got nothing but admiration for my players, who went up against a team like Chelsea. Robinson was causing them a few problems. I’ve not seen the sending off back, but in real time I didn’t think it was. But I wouldn’t want to comment, I’m not sure. I want my players to be aggressive and committed, but if it was reckless, there’s a balance, and he’s a young lad and he’ll learn. There are fine margins, and sometimes you cross that line. We could have given them a game with 11. Disappointed? Yes, but we’ll dust ourselves down and prepare ourselves for Man U.”
Frank Lampard’s verdict. “It feels good. It’s not easy with our league form recently, so you have to break it. And Fulham were in good form. I felt we started well but against ten men it’s not easy. We got what we deserved tonight. Mason was outstanding and he deserves the accolades. I did have the feeling that we could get the goal. Mason needs to score more goals, he knows that, but his quality is brilliant. Werner has to keep working, it’s the only way out of it. Go again, go again. And it’ll go in for him, because he’s quality. We’re in a transition, but we need to get points because we’re Chelsea, and we go again on Tuesday.”
Post-match pow-wows with both managers still to come. But in the meantime, Jacob Steinberg’s verdict has landed ... and here it is, for your entertainment and edification.
A word with the match-winner Mason Mount. “It was a massive game for us ... the run we’ve been through has been tough ... we’ve had to look at ourselves ... today was a tough, tough game ... we’ve had to dig deep and show character tonight ... the win is the main thing ... there is pressure for us to perform, looking at the quality of our changing room ... we were up against a good team that’s been playing well ... they had five at the back and that’s always difficult ... we stayed patient ... we got better and better and nicked the goal ... I should have had two! ... this gives us a lift, we’ve been a bit down, and now we look on to the next game.”
Frank Lampard looks more relieved than ecstatic. His team didn’t play well, but one moment of calm, considered quality from Callum Hudson-Odoi set off a chain of events that led to Mason Mount’s 78th-minute winner. Scott Parker has a word with the referee, clearly considering Antonee Robinson’s first-half sending off to be harsh. Fulham dug in well in the second half, but couldn’t hold out. When the pain subsides, Parker should take a lot of positives from that performance. But Fulham remain in 18th spot, four behind Burnley. Chelsea meanwhile leapfrog Southampton and West Ham into seventh place on 29 points.
FULL TIME: Fulham 0-1 Chelsea
It was hard work, but Chelsea break their losing away sequence with victory over their near neighbours.
90 min +4: Azpilicueta drags back Lookman. Booking, and a free kick. Fulham load the box. Chelsea deal with it ... and suddenly Werner is away, free on the counter! He tears down the inside-left channel, enters the box and ... pulls a dreadful effort across goal and wide right.
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90 min +3: Fulham throw in Chelsea territory. It’s flung in. Silva heads clear. Bryan crosses from the left. Rudiger bashes clear this time.
90 min +2: Pulisic dances down the left before pulling back for Azpilicueta, who leans back and skies an effort from the edge of the box. Penny for Werner’s thoughts; how he could do with an unchallenged chance like that to build some confidence.
90 min +1: Nothing comes of it.
90 min: Mount sees a long-range effort blocked. That’ll be a corner, and it’ll be taken in the first of five added minutes.
88 min: Lookman makes a late lunge on Azpilicueta. It’s not a million miles away from the Robinson challenge, but just a yellow this time.
86 min: Chelsea try to play it out from the back, and an under-pressure Mendy is forced to slice out for a throw. Nothing comes of it, but Chelsea’s nerves have betrayed them a couple of times at the back this evening. Still a work in progress.
84 min: Hudson-Odoi finds Werner in acres with a glorious crossfield pass from the right ... but the out-of-sorts striker can’t get the ball under control and the chance to advance on the Fulham goal is gone.
83 min: Fulham replace Decordova-Reid and Aina with Kamara and Bryan. Just the two at the back now, as they strive for an equaliser.
82 min: So having said that, Lookman embarks on a fresh dribble down the middle and is hauled back unceremoniously by Silva, who goes in the book.
81 min: Fulham look visibly deflated. No wonder: the ten men had dug in bravely, and they got so close to a precious point, but all seems lost now. Plenty of time to equalise, of course, but they can’t get the ball at the minute, and suddenly they appear tired.
79 min: Fulham respond by sending on Onomah, who replaces Cavaleiro.
GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Chelsea (Mount 78)
Hudson-Odoi sashays down the right and chips across towards Chilwell on the opposite flank. Chilwell thinks about hitting it, but hits the byline instead. His cross is clawed down by Areola, straight to the feet of Mount, who hammers an unstoppable shot into the bottom right. The 11 men break through at last!
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76 min: Reed, who had taken an innocent whack on the back of the neep from Ziyech, is up and good to go again.
75 min: While the game is stopped, Chelsea make a double change: off go Ziyech and Giroud, on come Hudson-Odoi and Werner.
74 min: Ziyech has a blast from distance. Blocked. Kovavic picks up the loose ball and drives down the right and into the box, but can’t find anyone with his cutback. Fulham clear, and the game’s paused for Reed, who is down and requires treatment.
72 min: Now it’s Chelsea’s turn to get cynical, Ziyech barging into Lookman as the Fulham man careered up the left flank.
70 min: Decordova-Reid is booked for a cynical slide on Pulisic, who was in the business of launching a counter.
68 min: A ball played down the Fulham left. It should be easy for Azpilicueta to deal with, but his backpass wrong-foots the outrushing Mendy. The ball breaks to Cavaleiro, who tries to curl into the unguarded net, but Thiago blocks bravely. What an absurd event.
67 min: He’s nearly in again, Ziyech delivering a vicious low in-swinger from the right. The ball evades Abraham’s head by an inch or so, then Pulisic’s toe, and rolls out for a goal kick. How did that not get poked home?!
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66 min: A ball flung in from the Chelsea left. Abraham rises and sends a weak header straight at Areola. Chances are the flag would have gone up for offside, but that’s an immediate statement of intent by Abraham.
65 min: Abraham replaces Jorginho. From the restart, Aina tries to surprise Mendy with a shot from 60 yards out. It’s always heading wide, but full marks for quick thinking and ambition.
63 min: Jorginho and Ziyech work the ball cutely down the inside-right channel. The ball’s slipped to Giroud, alone on the penalty spot, Fulham carved open. But he drags his shot wide right. He contemplates eating his shirt in shame, but the flag goes up for offside, partially saving both his blushes and his digestive tract.
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61 min: Chelsea ping it around the middle now, to little effect. For all the possession and pressure, Areola hasn’t had to deal with too much last-gasp stuff.
59 min: Chelsea probe down both wings. Nothing doing. Ziyech gets fed up and has a pop from 25 yards. It’s deflected out for yet another Chelsea corner on the right. Azpilicueta meets it, but not with any great conviction. Goal kick.
57 min: Tete hassles Chilwell down the Fulham right and makes off with the ball. He’s penalised for over-eagerness and the whistle goes before he can enter the box and think about causing trouble. But that’s another sign that Fulham aren’t planning to sit back completely in the hope of holding on.
55 min: Chelsea have enjoyed 87 percent of possession since the restart.
54 min: The best form of defence might be attack, you know, and with this in mind, Aina strides forward, drifts in from the left, and looks to curl spectacularly into the top right. He finds the top right of the Hammersmith End, but if nothing else, that’s allowed the rest of the defence a breather.
53 min: The corner ticker continues to spin around at industrial pace. Azpilicueta wins this one. From it, Giroud plants a header goalwards, but with no real pace. Areola claims.
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52 min: Silva bashes a close-range header goalwards, and grimaces in annoyance as it’s deflected wide. Nothing comes of the second corner, but Fulham have a job on if they’re to keep resisting this for another 38 minutes plus stoppages.
51 min: Mount busies himself down the right and fires low to the near post. Giroud tries a cute flick, but it doesn’t come off. He has to settle for another corner.
50 min: Chelsea win another corner out on the left. It’s played short. Ziyech whistles an outrageous screamer towards the top left from a tight angle. Areola is forced to turn it around the post. Nothing appears to happen at the second corner, though we’re told VAR are poring over the footage looking for an illegal shove. Nothing doing.
48 min: Chelsea dominate possession. Expect more of this as well.
46 min: Some space for Azpilicueta down the right. He cuts back for Jorginho, whose shot is blocked, and the flag goes up for offside anyway. Areola takes his time over the free kick. Expect plenty of professional clock management as the ten men of Fulham look to hold on.
Chelsea get the second half underway. They’re kicking towards the famous old cottage this time. There have been no half-time changes.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Fulham 0-0 Chelsea
Fulham were beginning to create chances against a previously dominant Chelsea, but then Robinson had that rush of blood. Advantage Chelsea ahead of the second half, not least because the young American full-back was Fulham’s most potent attacking threat.
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45 min: VAR takes a look. It doesn’t appear to be a studs-up affair, and there’s not a whole load of contact. But it is a wild lunge and he wasn’t fully in control. Not the most heinous of challenges, but not the greatest either, and there’s not enough doubt to overturn the decision.
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Red card: Robinson (Fulham)
44 min: Robinson slides in hard and fast on Azpilicueta. He catches the Chelsea man, who flips over in mid-air and screams in pain. Mount gets involved, and then so does the referee, flashing red.
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43 min: Anguissa brushes Jorginho aside with contempt, spinning into space down the inside-right channel and striding towards the box. He shapes to shoot, but then loses the rhythm of his stride, and the ball clanks away. Half a chance, that.
41 min: Fulham are this close to scoring the goal of the season. Lookman sends Robinson scampering away down the left with an astonishing backheel. He reaches the box and passes towards Tete, romping down the other wing. Tete would be within his rights to shoot, but instead plays a stunning first-time pass towards Cavaleiro on the penalty spot. Cavaleiro leans back and shanks wide right. What a shame. That would have been quite the sensation.
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39 min: Reed takes. It’s half cleared. Decordova-Reid chips the ball back wide right for Lookman, who attempts to recreate Marco van Basten’s famous goal in the Euro 88 final. That one’s away to Putney.
38 min: Decordova-Reid bursts down the right and earns Fulham their first corner of the game.
36 min: Chelsea nearly score their ninth goal of the season from a corner. The ball bagatelles in the six-yard box, and should really be poked home by Jorginho, but he hesitates and Areola snaffles. At present, a Chelsea opener looks merely a matter of time.
35 min: Pulisic and Chilwell combine crisply down the left and earn a corner, Chelsea’s fifth of the game.
34 min: Fulham can’t get anything going themselves. Adarabioyo, quarterbacking from deep, tries to find someone with a glory pass. Not sure who his target was, on account of the ball sailing out of play in the agricultural style with no white shirt in view. Goal kick.
32 min: Pulisic spins into space, just on the edge of the D, and pings a shot towards the bottom left. Just wide. Chelsea are applying some serious pressure now.
30 min: Anderson takes a whack upside his head, Giroud the culprit. He’s not particularly happy about it, but it looked accidental, the pair challenging for a loose ball, and the referee agrees.
29 min: Azpilicueta fizzes low into the Fulham box from the right. Areola parries it into the danger zone, but is fortunate that the ball drops to Decordova-Reid instead of the four blue shirts surrounding him on the penalty spot. Fulham play their way confidently away from danger.
28 min: Fulham are struggling to get out of their own half, Chelsea responding well to those half-chances for the hosts.
26 min: But not for long, and Chelsea force a corner down the right. Rudiger meets it, and sends an effort towards the bottom left. Areola paws it away at full stretch. What a save! Chelsea, all of a sudden, are turning the screw.
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25 min: Azpilicueta crosses from the right. Pulisic can’t get his head onto it. Chilwell returns the ball into the mixer from the right. Robinson’s clearance is dismal, falling to the feet of Mount, who whacks a rising shot across Areola and off the crossbar! A stunning strike, and so unfortunate. Fulham clear.
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23 min: Mount is clattered from behind by Lookman. The Fulham forward is lucky not to get booked for that one. From the resulting free kick, Ziyech advances on the Fulham box and tries to thread one into the bottom right from 25 yards. It’s easily dealt with by Areola.
21 min: Lookman overplays near his own box and ships possession. The ball is shuttled to Chilwell, bombing in down the middle. He has another whack at goal, but this one’s blocked and loops away harmlessly. This is an intriguing game, if not yet an exciting one.
19 min: Fulham are beginning to ask a few questions now. Robinson makes good down the left again and slips infield for Cavaleiro, who tries to trap and spin from the edge of the six-yard box. If he could sort his feet out, it’d be a sure-fire goal. But he can’t, and the chance clanks between his boots and away.
17 min: Robinson turns on the jets and whistles into space down the left. He reaches the box and crosses low for Lookman, whose shot is blocked. The ball breaks back to Robinson, who has a pelt himself. That’s blocked too, but what a scintillating run from the young American. All right!
15 min: Chelsea continue to dominate possession, but Fulham are holding them at arm’s length for now.
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13 min: Chilwell has a speculative slash at a dropping ball from distance. He’s got a taste for the spectacular, has Chilwell, but this particular effort is only spectacularly awful. That one’s on its way back to Stamford Bridge. Still, if you don’t buy a ticket, and so on, and so forth.
12 min: The ball’s pumped long for Giroud, who can’t control. But the ball does bounce off Aina’s arm. Jorginho wants a penalty kick, but it was completely accidental; the defender was behind Giroud and Anderson, his view impaired, and couldn’t be expected to react in time. Mr VAR has a check, but isn’t interested.
10 min: Nothing comes of the corner.
9 min: Mount busies himself down the inside-right channel, the ball breaking to Giroud, who hits a first-time volley towards the bottom left. It’s deflected out for a corner.
7 min: A little space for Cavaleiro down the right. He crosses in the hope of finding Lookman, but Chelsea hack clear. Fulham come again from the resulting throw, Tete one-twoing with Cavaleiro and charging into the box from the right. He chests down, but can’t find space to smack the dropping ball goalwards. The move fizzles out.
6 min: No wonder Chelsea have the confidence to mix it up at corners: they’ve scored eight goals from corners this season, the best total in the division. Everton, Liverpool and Wolves are next on the rank with six.
4 min: Azpilicueta wins a corner off Adarabioyo down the right. Giroud takes, pulling it back for Mount, who opens his body, hoping to sidefoot powerfully into the bottom right from 12 yards. Fulham, lining up extremely deep, are totally outfoxed. But they do manage to get in a block, and clear. A clever training-ground move nearly came off.
2 min: Plenty of Chelsea possession in the early stages. Pulisic nearly releases Chilwell on the overlap down the left, but Aina is over quickly to cover.
The knee is taken - there’s no room for racism - and then Fulham get the game underway. The hosts will be kicking towards the famous pavilion in the first half; Chelsea are playing towards the Hammersmith End.
Before the game starts, a moment of quiet reflection in memory of Tosh Chamberlain, who passed away last Sunday. Chamberlain was part of the famous Fulham team of the late 1950s, playing alongside Johnny Haynes and Jimmy Hill. He scored 64 goals in 204 appearances for the Cottagers.
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Here come the teams! Fulham wear their white shirts and black shorts; blue is the colour for Chelsea. It’s a cold night by the River Thames. It won’t be long now.
Scott Parker talks to Sky Sports ... “Momentum is with us ... we’ve put in some good performances ... games come thick and fast and it’s exactly how you want them ... Adi Lookman has been superb since he’s been here, he can score and create goals ... he gives us a lot and we’re looking forward to seeing him.”
... and so does Frank Lampard. “Some of our results recently have been indifferent ... that’s not a direct thing on Kurt Zouma but we lean more on what Toni is doing ... he’s a personality within the group ... it just felt like a change was needed ... Tammy and Oli bring different things to the team ... Oli is a leader in the dressing room ... we haven’t scored enough goals, and Oli up front can bring that for us.”
It’s suddenly become an even more important game for Fulham. This lunchtime, West Bromwich Albion closed the gap from behind with a 3-2 win at Wolves. And now, Brighton have won 1-0 at Leeds thanks to Neal Maupay’s fine first-half goal. That’s a first win in ten for the Seagulls, who leapfrog Burnley - 1-0 losers at West Ham - into 16th spot. It all means Fulham are now now four points from safety: they’ve got 12 compared to Burnley’s 16. It’s getting interesting at the bottom.
Just the one change for Fulham from the draw at Spurs, and it’s a swap that’s out of Scott Parker’s hands. The on-loan Ruben Loftus-Cheek is ineligible against his parent club, so he’s replaced by Ademola Lookman. Aleksandar Mitrovic hasn’t recovered from injury, and isn’t even on the bench.
Chelsea make seven changes from the team that saw off Morecambe in the FA Cup, but never mind that. More significantly, it’s just three changes to the team named for their last Premier League match against Manchester City. Olivier Giroud, Antonio Rudiger and Jorginho take the places of Kurt Zouma, N’Golo Kante and Timo Werner.
The teams
Fulham: Areola, Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Tete, Reid, Reed, Zambo, Robinson, Ivan Cavaleiro, Lookman.
Subs: Hector, Odoi, Kebano, Rodak, Ream, Bryan, Onomah, Kamara.
Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Thiago Silva, Chilwell, Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount, Ziyech, Giroud, Pulisic.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Abraham, Werner, Zouma, Hudson-Odoi, Gilmour, James, Havertz, Emerson Palmieri.
Referee: Peter Bankes (Merseyside).
Preamble
It’s the west London derby ... or one of them, at least. As with any other local rivalry, football’s most unappealing prize - bragging rights - are up for grabs. Three precious points are on offer too, manna from heaven for a couple of teams not quite firing on all cylinders right now.
Fulham are slowly attempting to extricate themselves from the mire. They’ve drawn their last five matches, a run that’s better than it sounds, given it features hard-won points against Liverpool, Tottenham and high-flying Southampton. But wins are at a premium right now - they’ve only managed two all season - and how they could do with three points that would ease their relegation worries.
Chelsea are finding wins hard to come by themselves. Just one in the last six, a run which has seen them limited to four points from 18 on offer. But some things run deeper than recent form, and their record against their neighbours down by the river is extremely encouraging for Frank Lampard’s side. Chelsea have won 12 and drawn seven of the past 19 meetings with Fulham; the Cottagers’ last win came in 2006, with Luis Boa Morte scoring the solitary goal.
History and league position make Chelsea favourites for this. Fulham will take succour from their dogged displays of late, and the belief that all barren runs have to end sometime. It’s a big London weekend derby. It’s Saturday evening prime-time. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm GMT.
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