Fulham claimed native bragging rights with a hard-fought 2-1 Premier League victory over Chelsea at Craven Cottage, producing a efficiency filled with depth and perception. The outcome adopted pre-match warnings from SoftFootball about Fulham’s resilience at residence, with Marco Silva’s facet proving troublesome to interrupt down as soon as once more towards a Chelsea staff struggling for consistency on the street.
The hosts carried confidence from their current late draw towards Liverpool, one other signal of their rising composure in large moments, and that perception confirmed early. Harry Wilson examined Robert Sánchez contained in the opening minutes, setting the tone for a energetic contest.
Chelsea responded via Enzo Fernández corners that precipitated chaos, together with an effort that noticed Andrey Santos hit the bar, however Fulham steadily seized management of the midfield battle. The sport swung decisively within the twenty second minute when Marc Cucurella was despatched off.
The Chelsea defender hauled down Wilson after the winger raced onto a protracted ball from Bernd Leno, denying a transparent goalscoring alternative. Regardless of Chelsea protests, VAR upheld the straight crimson card, forcing the guests to reshuffle and defend deep for lengthy spells.
Fulham thought they’d taken the lead simply earlier than halftime when Wilson completed clinically, just for VAR to rule it out as a consequence of Raúl Jiménez being offside within the build-up. Undeterred, Silva’s males got here out strongly after the break and have been rewarded within the fifty fifth minute.
Raúl Jiménez powered residence a header from Sander Berge’s teasing cross, lastly giving Fulham the breakthrough their stress deserved. Chelsea confirmed character regardless of their numerical drawback and located an equaliser within the 72nd minute.
A Pedro Neto nook was flicked onto the put up by Antonee Robinson, and Liam Delap reacted quickest to faucet in his first Premier League purpose for the membership, briefly swinging momentum the guests’ method. Fulham, nonetheless, refused to accept a degree.
Sustained stress advised within the 81st minute when Harry Wilson struck from contained in the field, his effort taking a slight deflection off Reece James earlier than nestling into the nook. The purpose sparked wild celebrations and underlined Fulham’s persistence.
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The win shared on the membership’s official X account lifts Fulham to eighth place, extending their unbeaten league run, whereas Chelsea stay fifth however beneath rising stress after one other irritating away outing. With Liam Rosenior watching from the stands forward of his official takeover, the Blues have been left with extra questions than solutions after a bruising west London derby.
