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Chelsea’s new head coach, Liam Rosenior is expected to be in attendance but will not leading the team just yet as the Blues make the short trip down the road to Craven Cottage, to take on friendly rivals Fulham. Instead of Rosenior, it will be interim head coach Calum McFarlane calling the shots, and hopefully just as effectively as he did over the weekend, when he engineered a very credible 1-1 draw away against Manchester City.
Alas, the only team to truly benefit from that draw were Arsenal, who now have a six point lead at the top of the table, just past the halfway mark of the season.
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For Chelsea, it’s now just one win in our last eight Premier League matches, collecting just eight points from the 24 on offer. Somehow we’re still in fifth, but we’re going to have to start picking up points if we want to remain in the Champions League places by season’s end.
Date / Time: Wednesday, January 7, 19.30 GMT; 2:30pm EST; 1am IST (next day)
Venue: Craven Cottage, SW6
Referee: Peter Bankes (on pitch); John Brooks (VAR)
Forecast: Partly sunny and a slight breeze; no more snow sadly
On TV: Sky Sports Football (UK); none (USA); Star Sports Select HD2 (India); none (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); Peacock (USA); JioHotstar (India); DStv Now, SuperSport GOtv (NGA)
Fulham team news: It’s been a decent festive period for midtable (as usual) Fulham, getting draws against Liverpool and Crystal Palace and wins against West Ham and Nottingham Forest. Their draw against Liverpool, last time out, saw both teams score in added-on time, with Fulham equalizing on a most unlikely Goal of the Season worldie from Harrison Reed: just his fourth goal in over 200 appearances for the club.
And they’ve done all that despite losing a trio of key players to Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations (Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, and Samuel Chukwueze), and missing a few others through injury (Josh King, Kenny Tete, and Rodrigo Muniz). In better news for them, Ryan Sessegnon looks set to return from a hamstring problem.
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Manager Marco Silva is weary of the mental and physical tolls these games have taken on his players, though such concerns can fall by the wayside when it comes to special derbies (even friendly ones), especially when one side may feel wronged by a certain decision (i.e. Josh King’s goal getting ruled in the reverse fixture at the Bridge earlier this season).
“It’s special. It’s special, because we know what’s happened. […] It really hurt ourselves, our fans, this football club, the way we were not able to win the game at Stamford Bridge. The way the team performed almost perfectly first half, in a really tough game against a top, top side, the way the team performed, and everything that happened in that game, really hurt this football club. I’m not talking about one or two persons, or just the players – us, the football club, the way that things happened that Saturday morning.
“It is what it is – now it’s another opportunity for us to enjoy, to embrace a big challenge with our fans to play a derby like a derby should be played. Simple as that. It’s a new game, a new story. I don’t want anyone to think about the past, we have to look for the future, and what’s going to be most important is the next one. It’s a special game.”
-Marco Silva; source: Fulham FC
Let it goo, let it goooooo…
Chelsea team news: Robert Sánchez and Wesley Fofana were both late scratches over the weekend, with injury and illness, respectively, but they are both back in training and in contention to start. Same goes for Marc Cucurella, who’s barely ever injured, but has missed the last couple games with a hamstring concern. We also welcome back Moisés Caicedo from his latest suspension.
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Levi Colwill, Dário Essugo, and Roméo Lavia remain out. The club recently wished Mykhailo Mudryk a happy birthday on social media, so we should probably mention the suspended winger here as well. How’s the appeals process going, Misha?
McFarlane will be hoping to hand over the reigns to Rosenior with the team back on the right path.
“[This is a] really talented group, young, hungry, have shown they can play at the top top level against top top sides. Anyone associated with the club should be proud of their performance on Sunday and moving forward, this team has massive, massive potential so we should all be excited.”
-Calum McFarlane; source: Football.London
Previously: Last season, we went to Craven Cottage on a low and came back on an absolute high. Tyrique George’s late equalizer and Pedro Neto’s even-later winner galvanized the team into a scorching hot run of form and results, culminating in not only a top-four finish but winning the FIFA Club World Cup later that summer.
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