Match Report: Chelsea battle past Fulham to 2-0 win in testy encounter | OneFootball

Chelsea beat Fulham 2-0 in a testy game at Stamford Bridge to go top ahead before the 3pm kick offs.

It started well for the Blues, with a good early period of possession, but there were two early blows which killed that momentum. Firstly Liam Delap went off injured after 15 minutes. With the attack currently in flux, there wasn’t that much on the bench for Chelsea to begin with. Losing another player that early was always going to be difficult.

The second blow came after half an hour. Fulham scored a great counter attacking goal, which was ruled out for a very soft foul on Trevoh Chalobah. The goal didn’t stand, but that combined with the injury killed Chelsea’s confidence and momentum. They spent the rest of the first half struggling to find their rhythm, while Marco Silva’s team looked comfortable. But football being football, it was the Blues who scored, just as they looked to be in serious trouble.

The Blues have been great at set pieces already this season, and they added another to their collection after half time when Chelsea got a penalty after a Chalobah cross hit Ryan Sessegnon’s arm. After another tedious VAR delay, Enzo Fernandez stepped up and scored.

From there it was a coast to the finish line. Fulham were frustrated and broken, Chelsea still unable to put many attacking moves together but much better in controlling possession. All it took was a few moments of solid defending to get them over the line.

MOTM – Trevoh Chalobah

Analysis

Enzo Fernandez celebrates his goal. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

After a frustrating opening day draw against Crystal Palace then a demolition of a rotten West Ham team last week, we hoped to find out a little more about what level this Chelsea team is at in this game. But in the end it was hard to judge anything based on a game that was changed by set pieces and VAR decisions.

The decision to replace the injured Liam Delap with Tyrique George leading the line was a curious one. It would have made more sense to us to have George playing behind the far more physical Joao Pedro, rather than JP in the 10 and George battling beefy defenders.

Teams

Chelsea

Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez (c); Estevao Willian (Gittens 68), Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto (James 81); Delap (George 14, Andrey Santos 81).

Chelsea substitutes: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Fofana, Hato, Essugo. Goalscorers: Joao Pedro 45+9, Fernandez 54. Booked: Caicedo 38.

Fulham

Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon (Robinson 67); Lukic, Berge; Castagne (Wilson 60), King (Smith Rowe 67), Iwobi (Traore 84); Muiz (Jimenez 59).

Fulham substitutes: Lecomte, Cuenca, Wilson, Reed, Cairney. Booked: Iwobi 73.

Stats

Chelsea:

Fulham:

Quote of the game

“The foul is a foul and the penalty is a penalty” – Enzo Maresca on the 2 key incidents post game.