Premier League - Fulham vs Chelsea

Premier League Matchday 27 sees 1ˢᵗ vs 20ᵗʰ as leader-leaders Chelsea travel to rock-bottom Fulham to face off in a West London derby of high consequence to both sides. Chelsea will be looking to build on their last-gasp dramatic victory over Everton the weekend previous after a short run of flat performances and equally poor results, and will hope the thrilling stoppage-time win the Saturday before will be the catalyst to such a renaissance. Fulham, on the other hand, are in a crisis that threatens the very status of their club as a Premier League outfit. The Cottagers sit rock bottom of the table, and are presently on their 3rd manager in as many months. The West Londonders in White haven't won a game since New Year's Day – that, a 2-1 victory over London rivals West Ham – and have lost 5 of their 7 since. Relegation is looking all but a formality now, but newly-appointed boss Felix Magath will be hoping his side can pull off the impossible, and a positive result against table-topping Chelsea may be just the springboard for it.










Th corresponding fixture last season in April ended in a rout for the visitors. David Luiz scored a long-range wonder goal half an hour in to give Rafa Benitez's men the lead, before John Terry followed it up with not one, but 2 headers past then-Fulham keeper, now-Chelsea player Mark Schwarzer – the first 2 minutes before halftime to put the Blues in a commanding position going into the interval, and the second with just under 20 minutes remaining to seal the victory.










The reverse fixture this campaign in the fifth game of the young Premier League season was also a thorough victory by the West Londoners in Blue, in the end. Fulham set out to stifle Chelsea from the start, and succeeded well in doing so, but the home side finally, if not fortuitously, broke through on 52 minutes through Oscar who took advantage of some mayhem in the Fulham 6-yard box, and capitalised on Kieran Richardson's botched clearance to tap the ball home and put the Blues in front. Half an hour later, the hosts sealed the victory with an unlikely goal from John Obi Mikel, his first for Chelsea in almost 7 years and first ever in the Premier League after a staggering 184 games of trying.










The sides obtained disparate results the weekend previous in their Matchday 27 fixtures on Saturday. As mentioned, Chelsea attained a last-gasp and crucial victory over Everton at Stamford Bridge through a stoppage-time winner from Frank Lampard/John Terry/Tim Howard, while Fulham were held to a disappointing draw when Ashkan Dejagah's 28th minute opener was cancelled out late on when a staggering Martin Stekelenburg howler allowed Matěj Vydra to equalise with just 4 minutes remaining to deny new boss Felix Magath the perfect start to his Fulham reign.

Can't watch this one because of work but we should be winning this and winning it well, it's a good chance for Oscar to play himself into a bit of form too

Get ready for a bore-fest. We need an early goal or I can see an 0-0

^ Agreed.

BTW Reus, congratulations on your first ever post on a day other than a matchday

Standard Mou borefest?

Shed wrote:BTW Reus, congratulations on your first ever post on a day other than a matchday

  

lol guys, Fulham ship in goals from left, right and center, it won't be a boring 0 - 0.

But hopefully Maw Gath can whip his players to an exciting 3 - 2 win as this game's on TV here and I'll be watching

I don't think this would be worth waking up at 2am..

We'll drop points here. Calling it now.

FULHAM XI: Stekelenburg; Riether, Hangeland, Heitinga, Richardson; Dejagah, Parker, Sidwell, Dempsey; Kasami, Bent

CHELSEA XI: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard; Torres

As expected.

SUBS: Stockdale, Riise, Burn, Kvist, Holtby, Karagounis, Rodallega


SUBS: Schwarzer, Cole, D Luiz, Mikel, Lampard, Willian, Ba

No Eto and Salah  

I think Mou has banged his head, am I seeing Shirley starting 2 games in a row? Resting people like Willian?!??!?!?! Lols at the bench though.

If anyone should be dropped it's Hazard.

He said he'll never drop Hazard even if he's tired as he can come up with something special.

Also it'd be pretty damn stupid to rest Hazard today only for him to play for Belgium midweek.

Players thinking they have a place in the team regardless of how poorly they perform is a problem. It's getting to that stage with him. He's had a good 2 months this season but has been mediocre at best before those two months and since.

Shit.

SHIRLEY

FUKYES

BRILLIANT

Hazard starts playing and suddenly we look great. #onemanteam

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!


Shirley on the double

HAZARD AMAZING 2nd half