Fulham and Chelsea lock heads in a London derby frosty encounter on Thursday night. The blues are desperate to continue their dominance over Marco Silva’s men as the quest to halt a run of bad results lingers on. While Chelsea find themselves in an unfamiliar position on the log, Fulham are 3 points and 3 places better off than their London neighbours even though the blues have a game in hand.
While the arrival of Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid looks to booster the mood and results at Chelsea, Graham Potter’s men are running out of time to make amends to an already sabotaged season from a Chelsea perspective.
Fulham team news :
Fulham are aiming to win four consecutive top flight matches for the first time since the 1965-66 season. However, Alexander Mitrovic will be missing through suspension in a damning blow. Kebano is the only other player set to miss tonight’s match as Fulham unlike Chelsea, have a nearly fully fit squad to chose from. Former spurs striker Vinicius looks set to replace the big Serb up front.
Chelsea team news :
Chelsea’s injury concerns deepens as manager Graham Potter confirmed that Christian Pulisic could be out for a couple of months after sustaining a knee injury against City. Raheem Sterling, Reece James, Kante, Fofana and Mendy are also expected to miss out on the trip to Craven Cottage.
Whilst Potter’s Options have been grossly limited by injuries, the likes of Felix, Datro Fofana, Badiashile are likely to get a run in.
Thiago Silva, Azpilicueta and Zakaria are all expected to make a return to the starting XI after coming off the bench at the Etihad.
Fulham potential line up :
Leno, Tété, Ream, Adarabioyo, Robinson, Reed, Palhinha, Ried, Pereira, Willian, Vinicius.
Chelsea potential line up :
Kepa, Azpilicueta, Silva, Koulibaly, Cucurella, Kovacic, Jorginho, Zakaria, Ziyech, Havertz, Mount.
My preferred Chelsea line up :
Kepa, Azpilicueta, Silva, Koulibally, Cucurella, Kovacic Jorginho, Zakaria, Ziyech, Aubameyang, Mount.
Score prediction – Fulham 0:1 Chelsea
While Potter faces no danger of being fired at the moment, there’s an essential need not to loose the faith of an already disgruntled Chelsea fan base. No matter how much faith and patience the process requires, Potter needs to show signs of hope in the nearest future for the starving supporters.
