Fulham vs. Chelsea: Live Coverage of Premier League Action – Hot

90+4 min: “No skin in this game and sorry for more VARAGE,” apologies Paul Griffin. “But this is three years old, and perfectly predicted why VAR would work for cricket, but not football.”

90+2 min: Fulham can’t get out of their half. This is over.

90 min: Five minutes added on here. Chelsea look almost certain to take home the three points.

89 min: “Bounce in a minute, we’re going to bounce in a minuttttttte” threaten the Chelsea fans in the away end, before breaking into a half-arsed Poznan bop.

Not quite as good as their other chant this evening: “There’s only one team in Fulham”. Stamford Bridge is of course in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

87 min: Fulham look a little leggy.

85 min: Chelsea are managing this game well, although Sanchez picks a caution up for time-wasting, dallying over a goal kick. I should mention that Sterling also went into the book for a similar offence, kicking the ball away after the whistle had gone.

83 min: Willian tries his luck from distance, after bursting away from Enzo. The Brazilian has still got a turn of pace at 35, and his shot is not half bad either, but Sanchez moves to his left to save. No goal for Willian against his former club.

81 min: “More VAR ZZZs but bear with me!” emails Mark Cooper. “It’s baffling how sports like cricket, so mired in traditionalism, can have spearheaded technology interventions / innovations for over a decade while football is still struggling to remember what the ref said. No excuses. And why aren’t refs miked up like rugby union? It improved player behaviour and officials accountability in that sport overnight.”

79 min: A further change for the visitors: Palmer off for Ugochukwu. A good night for the former City man, who was recently booked.

77 min: A sitter for Lukic, but saved by Sanchez! Oooooooh, it should be 2-1, as Cairney brilliantly cuts Chelsea’s defence apart. Lukic didn’t have to break stride and only had to pass the ball into the corner from the six-yard box, but instead fires straight at Sanchez! A good save, I suppose, but Lukic should have give the Chelsea keeper no chance.

75 min: Another Fulham change: Andreas Pereira off for Lukic.

73 min: I fancy Fulham to get at least a goal here. Chelsea are ceding possession and retreating.

70 min: “That’s a red, Vinicius just punched Silva in the back,” emails David Singleton. “How is that not a red? What is the [effing] point of VAR if it can’t get simple things correct? It has to go. Maybe send it over to UAE for a jaunt and it’ll come back fresh to get everything correct.”

I have to say I agree with you, David. Vinicius is very lucky to still be on the pitch. I’m astounded that VAR didn’t at least ask the referee to go and have a look.

68 min: A surprising lull in play, as both teams reassess their shape after those changes.

66 min: Tom Cairney, another unlikely captain, comes on for Fulham, replacing Reed. On his day, the former Blackburn man can create something out of nothing.

64 min: More injury woe for Chelsea: Broja is down, and looks like he’s going to have to be replaced. The striker limps off rather forlorn. He’s shown real vigour this evening. Let’s hope it’s a small tweak or just cramp. On comes Raheem Sterling, who has missed three days of training in the past week (apparently), but is apparently fit enough to play half an hour here.

Seems I missed that Andreas Pereira got a booking for dissent around the time of the Vinicius/Thiago Silva incident.

62 min: Maatsen hits the post! Brilliant work from Broja and Gallagher culminates in a neat cut back to the penalty spot, where the Chelsea substitute is waiting. Maatsen sidefoots a first-time shot against Leno’s right post, but the ball falls kindly to Enzo. Brilliant save from Leno, who rushed out with Castagne to close the angle. A third Chelsea goal would surely end the contest. But the game remains alive.

60 min: Better from Fulham, who are making real inroads down the right flank. Castagne crosses for Vinicius and the Brazilian heads over. He stole a yard on Disasi.

58 min: The derby is hotting up! Tackles fly in from both sides, and referee Tim Robinson is lenient to allow Reed and Gallagher off for what could easily have been bookings. Then, a bizarre incident: Vinicius appears to deliberately throw an arm into the back (and back of the head?) of Thiago Silva, who crumbles in a heap before looking up at his compatriot and opponent. Why did Vinicius do that? The Chelsea defender was going nowhere, and replays show that there seemed to be genuine intent. VAR are checking for a red card, but they let the Fulham striker off! That could easily have been a dismissal.

56 min: Chance for Iwobi! Robinson gets to the byline, crosses wonderfully to the back post but Iwobi miscues! His volley dribbles into Sanchez’s arms. The Chelsea keeper is yet to be tested tonight.

55 min: Yellow card for Palmer, who leaves one on Robinson.

54 min: Double change for Fulham: Jimenez off for Vinicius, and Iwobi on for Harry Wilson.

52 min: “This reaffirms how much we miss Mitrovic,” emails Richard Hirst. “Not just for his goals but for his ability to hold the ball up, knit things together and keep the opposition defenders occupied.”

I do feel for Jimenez. He’s been outnumbered and outwitted tonight. Thiago Silva remains a consumate defender at the age of 39.

49 min: Breaking news … £115m Moisés Caicedo is good at football. More news when we have it.

47 min: Chelsea again begin brightly! Cole Palmer floats a delicious cross in from the right and it’s an inch too high for Broja, who leaps but can’t keep it under the crossbar.

Peeeeeeep! And we’re off again in south-west London.

A change for Chelsea, and it’s not a good one as far as they are concerned. Mudryk, who finally looked like he had found his mojo, is replaced by Ian Maatsen. That’s likely due to an injury, which would be a shame for Pochettino. Maatsen was brilliant on loan at Burnley last season, but is naturally a left back, although can play in midfield.

Half-time reading:

Half-time: Fulham 0-2 Chelsea

45 min: Fulham are hanging on here a bit. Colwill has the freedom of the left flank, feeds Broja and the striker is unlucky not to find a teammate with another dangerous cutback.

44 min: Is that a Virgin Media tattoo Mudryk has on his neck!?

42 min: More good work from Mudryk, who genuinely looks like a different player to the one that started this game. The Ukrainian drives inside with searing pace and is clipped by João Palhinha. A dangerous free kick then, which Mudryk takes, but Fulham defend it well.

40 min: Chance for Jimenez! From a Fulham corner, Andreas Pereira curls in an outswinger and the Mexican rises bravely, looping a header towards the back post but ultimately wide. The best opening the home side have created.

37 min: Broja is a menace. His movement is so intelligent, I can see him making the centre forward position his own, if he stays clear of injury. Broja times his run well to latch onto a through ball, sprints to the byline and flashes a cross across the six-yard box. Both Mudryk and Enzo are there, but neither can turn the ball in.

35 min: Re the VAR musings earlier, Adam Becker has emailed some thoughts.

“If VAR were not in place, the exact same tiresome debate would be going on in the wake of the Liverpool debacle, except it would be over whether VAR should be there rather than whether it should be removed. The goal was still wrongly disallowed, and Liverpool and their fans still would have felt hard done by.”

33 min: Yellow card for Cucurella, who gives Willian a good hack on the right wing. Fulham would be wise to concentrate their attacks down that side for the remainder of the game.

30 min: Fulham have got to get a hold of this game. They are losing the midfield battle. Reed in particular has been overpowered. I would not be shocked to see the introduction of Iwobi at half-time.

27 min: Either Fulham are being very sloppy, or you can to credit Pochettino’s set up, and the veraciousness with which his midfield is setting the trap. Diop’s careless ball is pounced on by Enzo and suddenly Chelsea spring forward on the counter-attack, five on four. Enzo slips Cole Palmer in with a clever through ball, but the Englishman turns back into traffic on the stronger left foot, and Diop intercepts a loose ball. A waste.

24 min: If you care about this sort of thing, Chelsea have ‘won’ the xG in every league game this season, but have won just one so far. Fulham fans will be cursing their luck that this is the game that Chelsea found their shooting boots.

22 min: Buoyed by that goal, Mudryk is now tearing around like a man possessed, snapping into tackles with Castagne and eagerly searching for the ball.

GOAL! Fulham 0-2 Chelsea (Broja 19)

GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Chelsea (Mudryk 17)

14 min: A fairly even contest. Caicedo has been neat and tidy and won a couple of tackles that he had no right to. Andreas Pereira has also been lively.

12 min: Gallagher, again wearing the captain’s armband tonight for Chelsea, turns beautifully in midfield and releases Palmer on the right. It does feel like the former City man has the beating of Robinson and he links well again with his skipper before Diop clears for the home side.

10 min: An email from Bill Preston. Fulham have had plenty of the ball but have no threatened in any way, apart from a couple of loose crosses to the back post.

“Silva is absolutely right when he talks about being “aggressive, brave, ambitious.” There’s a great opportunity here to get a decent early lead, get a stomp on and consolidate,and then work to deny the thrilling heroics Chelsea will throw at them.”

8 min: Mudryk has made a very shaky start, twice losing possession in dangerous positions. So much talent, so little confidence.

6 min: Confirmed that it is Cucurella playing right back, as he did last week against Brighton. The other option would be Disasi, with Cucurella left back and Colwill at centre back.

4 min: Chelsea have made a slick start: Palmer, Enzo and Gallagher combine in a flowing move, with Enzo just unable to latch onto a clever through ball.

2 min: Broja is clean through! He round Leno, steadies himself … and skies his effort over the bar with the goal gaping! Three Chelsea players had retreated on the line, but Broja still should have buried it. The flag actually does go up for offisde. It looks close! No matter. It remains goalless.

A couple of good stats: five of the nine Chelsea players on the bench have never kicked a ball for the first team. Raheem Sterling is the only player over the age of 21.

Mauricio Pochettino, meanwhile, is already in the ear of fourth official Simon Hooper, badgering the official as they make the walk across the pitch from the famous cottage to the dugout. Perhaps he sees another thrilling VAR spectacle coming.

Marco Silva makes all the right noises in the pre-match interview. The need to be aggressive, brave, ambitious. The balance of respecting Chelsea but also “respecting ourselves”. This is textbook stuff from the Portuguese.

Some very tiresome VAR debate on the UK Sky coverage. There’s an easy solution, scrap the thing. It sucks the joy out football, on the telly yes, but especially for those in the stadium.

We can all agree that goalline technology is a good thing. It provides clarity, and doesn’t detract from the spectacle of the game. VAR is a complete distraction. It’s more important for football to be fun than to be scientifically correct.

In completely unrelated news, here’s Jacob Steinberg’s piece on Chelsea:

An email!

“Good evening from a rather frustrated supporter of the longest established team in SW6,” emails Richard Hirst. I can’t quite understand why so many people (including, unfortunately, some at the Guardian) seem to be buying into the narrative that Chelsea are not a complete laughing stock but in fact have a plan, and their current predicament is largely the fault of injuries.

“Come on guys, give us a break. They’ve spent the GDP of several small countries and have been …. (expletive deleted pre-watershed) for a long time. Leicester have scored more Premier League goals than Chelsea in 2023, and they were relegated in May! Yes, they’ve had injuries, but they can still put someone like Sterling on the bench, so life ain’t too bad.

“Sod’s law says Chelsea will come good tonight and thrash Fulham, since 60 years of supporting Fulham has been an instruction in the harsh realities of life, but even if they do it still won’t alter the underlying balls up they’ve made.”

Cole Palmer starts for Chelsea. What a lovely footballer he is, although I’m still not quite used to him in a Chelsea shirt. It’s a surprise every time I see him in royal blue.

Also interesting that Cucurella comes in for his first league appearance of the season, after the Spaniard played the full 90 minutes against Brighton in the League Cup last week.

Marco Silva named six changes to his starting XI after Fulham’s 2-1 Carabao Cup third-round win against Norwich last week.

Bernd Leno replaces Marek Rodak in goal and both Antonee Robinson and Tim Ream rejoin the back four.

Andreas Pereira replaces last week’s goal scorer Alex Iwobi in midfield and Raul Jimenez is preferred over Carlos Vinicius.

Mauricio Pochettino made three changes from Chelsea’s 1-0 Carabao Cup victory over Brighton.

Thiago Silva and Conor Gallagher return to the XI and Armando Broja is picked over the suspended Nicolas Jackson.

This is Broja’s first start in nearly 11 months. He’s some player, and this season is his chance to make his mark on the starting XI. It’s just a question of if the injury has taken its toll.

Team news!

Preamble