Chelsea 2-0 Fulham, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

It was a subdued start to the game from both sides, as it often happens in lunchtime kickoffs, but it were the away side who started to find their feet first.

Chelsea’s attempts to do so were not helped by Liam Delap picking up a hamstring injury in the 12th minute; he was replaced by Tyrique George, who despite all his promise and talent is certainly not the same player.

And then things went from bad to worse as Fulham scored on a counter, after Chelsea lost a series of 50-5o challenges in midfield. Thankfully, one of those lost tackles was because Trevoh Chalobah’s foot was stood on, and VAR clocked it.

Despite that reprieve, Chelsea struggled to establish any sort of rhythm, flow, or control over proceedings, though at least we kept Fulham at arm’s length by and large the rest of the half as well.

Thankfully, with a whopping eight minutes added-on in the first half after the review and the injury, Chelsea had time to nick a goal with the final kick of the half: JP rising high in the middle to nod it in yet another corner goal for the Blues.

If Fulham felt they were getting hard done by in the first half, they certainly won’t have changed their feelings in the second, with Chelsea awarded a penalty on VAR review after Chalobah’s cross was blocked by an arm just a few minutes after the restart. There was another handball in the build-up to the cross, that one from JP, but that was ignored. Not that I’m complaining, mind. I’m sure we’ll be at the wrong end of contentious VAR decisions soon enough as well.

In any case, Enzo blasted in the penalty to make it 2-0, after which Chelsea were finally able to settle in and take control of proceedings. The period following that goal was our best of the game, though we were not quite able to convert the several excellent chances that we created.

Fulham put the pressure on in the final 10-15 minutes, but we were able prevent too much actual danger. And when danger did arrive, JP was there on the line to block the ball from going in! JP scores, JP saves!

Carefree.

• Unchanged starting XI from last week; a pretty rare thing for Maresca and Chelsea!
• Still time to cancel the Jackson loan after Delap’s hamstring?
• JP with another goal; things you love to see
• Clean sheet!
• Martin Tyler, certified Chelsea-hater
• 16 minutes of added-on time, 8 in each half; what is this, the World Cup?
• Next up: international break; then Brentford away when we return
• KTBFFH

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