Fulham 2-1 Chelsea: Rosenior watches poor Blues form continue | OneFootball

New head coach Liam Rosenior witnessed 10-man Chelsea’s poor form continue with a 2-1 defeat to local rivals Fulham from the stands at Craven Cottage.

Harry Wilson powered a strike past David Sánchez after Marc Cucurella’s early dismissal for denying him an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, but it was ruled out for offside.

Raul Jiménez’s headed opener was cancelled out by Liam Delap’s first of the season, yet Wilson restored the lead to haul his side level on points with the Blues in eighth.

As it happened

It’s safe to say that the Chelsea players didn’t cover themselves in glory in the first half of their audition to their new boss, who confirmed his move from Strasbourg on Tuesday.

Sánchez was called into action in the opening minutes, comfortably catching a low strike from Timothy Castagne on the end of Sander Berge’s cut back.

Bernd Leno then did well to claw a goal-bound corner from Blues captain Enzo Fernández on the left, shortly before Sánchez kept out a left-footed effort by Wilson 20 yards out.

Hearts were in mouths for Fulham as a second corner from Fernández was headed onto the crossbar from point-blank range by Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos.

But any pressure was quashed when Cucurella was sent off by Peter Bankes for pulling back Harry Wilson, running onto a ball over the top from Leno, to prevent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity on 22 minutes.

The home side then picked up the pace, Emile Smith Rowe spinning away neatly after getting the ball from Jiménez and generating plenty of power in his effort off-target.

Then in added time, Berge fed Wilson with a through ball into the penalty area and the Welshman slotted home to cap off a lovely move through the middle.

But VAR promptly ruled it out as Jiménez hadn’t managed to get onside before receiving the ball with his back to goal from centre-back Jorge Cuenca.

Chelsea would go into the break breathing a sigh of relief that the one-man advantage hadn’t yet told, but failing to win would extend their wait for a league victory to five matches.

With Pedro Neto twisting and turning inside the penalty area and forcing a corner, substitute Jorrel Hato lifted a free header over the bar minutes into the second half.

The defender would be made to rue the missed chance as Jiménez powered home a bullet header, meeting Berge’s accurate cross from the right.

Delap came close to a first league goal of the season since his transfer from Ipswich Town, but Leno made himself big and saved his attempt at a chip.

But he was first to the rebound after a header rebounded off of the post from another corner, and tapped in an easy finish to silence a vibrant Craven Cottage after an hour.

Sánchez had to hurl himself at Jiménez’s header at the back post to keep the hosts from going back in front with ten minutes remaining.

However, he was powerless to keep out Wilson’s effort after parrying Smith Rowe’s low cross straight into the path of the Welsh winger, who ghosted past Hato and finished cooly.

It was Wilson’s ninth goal involvement in ten Premier League matches, a player that has been at the forefront of the hosts’ recent surge up the table.

With that, Fulham rose to eight in the Premier League, matching Chelsea’s 31-point haul thus far this campaign, courtesy of an impressive three wins in their last five league games.

The line-ups

FUL: Leno; Cuenca, Andersen, Diop; Robinson, Cairney (C), Berge, Castagne; Smith Rowe, Wilson; Jiménez