Fulham vs Chelsea – Predicted lineup and team news

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The Football Faithful

·24 August 2026

Fulham vs Chelsea – Predicted lineup and team news

Alvaro Arbeloa takes charge of Fulham for the first competitive time on Monday night, at home to Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea.

Craven Cottage hosts the opener with Arbeloa still shaping a squad reworked by the exits of Harry Wilson and Raúl Jiménez.

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The Spaniard has leaned on his Real Madrid contacts to freshen the attack, bringing in Gonzalo García and César Palacios, and both are candidates to start the season in his first XI.

Fulham team news

Tom Cairney is the only player Arbeloa has ruled out entirely, the captain still working back from a minor knee procedure carried out earlier this month; Arbeloa suggested he may not be available again until after the first international break.

Joachim Andersen also misses the opener, serving the final match of a suspension for a two-footed lunge on a Bournemouth player in May. With Andersen out, Fulham are short of recognised cover at right centre-back beyond Canada international Luc de Fougerolles, who has yet to make his Premier League debut.

Beyond those two, Arbeloa said the rest of the group is available. “Tom is the only player that is not available. He’s still injured,” he said. “All others are fit and ready for Monday.” That clears the way for summer signings Gonzalo García and César Palacios to start together in attack on their competitive debuts, with Palacios taking one of the three attacking-midfield berths behind García.

Arbeloa’s other selection call is at the opposite side of that front three, where Josh King is picked ahead of Emile Smith Rowe alongside Oscar Bobb.