Chelsea-Fulham is a match for the twenty-second day of the Premier League and is played on Friday at 21:00: tv, formations, predictions.
West London derby which was played on reversed pitches not even three weeks ago, last 12 January, but it was a rescheduled seventh-day tie, postponed in September due to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It was a goal from Vinicius that gave Fulham three historic points and sent Craven Cottage into a frenzy of joy, where the last Juventus success against neighbours Chelsea dated back seventeen years.
Since then the Cottagers have played three games, surrendering in the league to two teams ahead of them (Newcastle and Tottenham, both defeats 1-0) and drawing in the FA Cup with Sunderland, which will force them to play the replay. The league table, however, continues to reward Marco Silva’s team, week in the standings, with two points more than Chelsea – but also one game more – and in full fight for a place in Europe. It had been more than fifteen years since a newly-promoted side recorded 31 points at the halfway mark. Graham Potter’s men beat Crystal Palace 1-0, but after that, they did not go beyond a 0-0 draw at Anfield Road against another struggling big name like Liverpool, and saw the gap to fourth place and qualification for the next Champions League increase by a huge 10 points.
Chelsea on the pitch after pharaonic market
Certainly, it would be strange to see Chelsea in the Europa League in the 2023-24 season after spending the phantasmagorical sum of €300 million in the market that has just ended.
Potter and Mudryk
We are not here to list all the players bought by the Londoners this session. It would suffice to mention only Enzo Fernandez, who arrived in the last few hours from Benfica for 120 million, a truly record sum at any latitude. Many, however, have pointed out that no striker of weight has arrived to solve the problem of goals that continues to plague Potter’s team: in 20 games he has only scored 22. Against Fulham the little jewel Mudryk, who arrived from Shakhtar Donetsk for over 100 million, could make his debut from the first day. The other new arrival Joao Felix, who picked up a red (and three days) in the match against the Cottagers, will still be disqualified.
The Prediction
This time Chelsea should be able to avoid defeat against their “little cousins”: the most audacious can even bet on the victory of the Blues, eager for revenge and regenerated by all these new millionaire purchases. The total goals should be at least two.
Chelsea-Fulham
likely line-ups
- CHELSEA (3-4-3): Arrizabalaga; Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Badiashile; Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Hall, Cucurella; Mount, Mudryk, Havertz.
- FULHAM (4-3-3): Leno; Tete, Diop, Ream, Robinson; Palhinha, Reed, Andreas Pereira; Decordova-Reid, Mitrovic, Willian.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
