Fulham vs Chelsea – Match preview and team news | OneFootball

Craven Cottage is this afternoon’s venue for the West London derby between Fulham and Chelsea.

The hosts can climb into eighth in the table with a win today after both Brighton and Bournemouth dropped points on Saturday.

Marco Silva has almost an entire squad at his disposal with Reiss Nelson being the only player unavailable. The Arsenal loanee hasn’t featured this calendar year following surgery on a serious hamstring issue.

The Portuguese tactician’s attacking options have been bolstered by the availability of Welsh winger Harry Wilson. The 28-year-old has been involved in training this week for the first time in almost three months after recovering from a broken metatarsal.

Despite losing the home leg 2-1 to Legia Warszawa in midweek, Chelsea still advanced into the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League. After winning the first leg 3-0, Enzo Maresca rested several senior players on Thursday night – including Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Levi Colwill, but he did start Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Marc Cucurella.

Romeo Lavia is poised to return to the squad, but his minutes will be monitored because of his fragile injury record. A similar course of action has been taken with club captain Reece James, who also has struggled with persistent injury issues this season.

Fulham vs Chelsea – Premier League match preview and team news

Form

Fulham: WLLWL

The Cottagers’ inconsistency cost them yet again on Monday night as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth. Antoine Semenyo scored the winner inside the first minute and Marco Silva’s outfit couldn’t muster a response.

It was their third defeat in four games, although they did manage to beat Premier League leaders Liverpool a fortnight ago.

Victory over their west London rivals this afternoon would see Fulham move up to eighth in the table and within three points of Chelsea.

Chelsea: WDWDL

It was an underwhelming midweek display from the Blues as they lost at home to Legia Warszawa. The hosts held a three goal advantage heading into the Europa Conference League second leg and allowed some complacency to creep in.

Legia managed to win 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, which fortunately for the hosts was not enough to overcome the first leg deficit. Enzo Maresca will already be preparing for the semi-final tie against Swedish outfit Djurgarden next month.

The West London club can become the first team to lift all four major European honours – the Champions League, Europa League, Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup and Europa Conference League.

But this weekend attention will turn back to their league exploits. Chelsea are still firmly in the race for Champions League qualification and a win today would put them two points off third-placed Newcastle.

Read – Chelsea predicted lineup and team news vs Fulham

Last Meeting: Chelsea 1-2 Fulham, Premier League, 26th December 2024

It was a Boxing Day to remember for the Fulham faithful as they recorded their first win at Stamford Bridge since 1979 in dramatic fashion.

Chelsea commenced the contest with impetus and struck the first blow just past the quarter of an hour mark. Cole Palmer wriggled past the attention of a few defenders before calmly slotting the ball past Bernd Leno.

Fulham responded with intent and pushed for parity. A slaloming run from defender Calvin Bassey saw him bypass a few players but the angle was tight and his subsequent shot was straight into Robert Sanchez.

At the opposite end, Leno needed to stay alert to parry Marc Cucurella’s diving header. After the break the German stopper produced an even better step to keep his side in the match. Enzo Fernandez’s strike from the edge of the box looked destined for the top corner, only for Leno to tip the effort over the crossbar with a fingertip save.

With less than 10 minutes remaining clever movement from substitute Harry Wilson drew Fulham level. Antonee Robinson delivered onto the head of fellow full-back Timothy Castagne who nodded across the box to the lurking Wilson. The Welshman beat the offside trap to head in the equaliser off the post. Chelsea protested that Alex Iwobi had fouled Pedro Neto in the build-up, but the VAR officials didn’t spot anything untoward.

The momentum swung in the visitors’ favour and they snatched the three points in the fifth minute of stoppage-time. Chelsea’s backline was stretched and Sasa Lukic picked out Rodrigo Muniz in the middle. The Brazilian composed himself and calmly found the corner of the net to send the travelling support into raptures.

Manager Marco Silva deserved a lot of credit for the victory as the goals came from players he had brought on from the bench.

Read – Chelsea and Newcastle make contact with Bayern defender

What time is kick-off?

The match is scheduled to begin at 14:00 BST on Sunday, 20th April 2025 at Craven Cottage in London, England.

Who is the referee?

Anthony Taylor will be the match official. Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn will assist him while Sam Barrott will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Andy Madley and he will be assisted by Darren Cann.

Predicted Line-ups

Fulham XI: Leno, Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Lukic, Berge; Traore, Smith Rowe, Iwobi; Jimenez.

Chelsea XI: Sanchez, Gusto, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson.

What TV channel will Fulham vs Chelsea be on?

The West London derby will not be broadcast live in the United Kingdom. You can find where the match is being aired in your location here.

Fulham vs Chelsea betting odds

Fulham: 7/4

Draw: 5/2

Chelsea: 6/4

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