Chelsea 0-0 Fulham
Chelsea and Fulham faced off on a cold Friday evening in SW6 as record-signing, Enzo Fernandez, made his debut for the Blues.
The £107million midfielder couldn’t prevent Chelsea from ending their poor run of recent results, as Fulham came away with a deserved point.
It didn’t take long for the Argentine to show his class with deft touches, rangy passes and key interceptions. Enzo was a bright light, in an otherwise unremarkable Chelsea showing.
There were a host of other January arrivals who made it onto the pitch, with Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke and David Datro Fofana.
However, with all these new signings, it will be a worry to Graham Potter that Chelsea’s continued issues in attack were highlighted by them only managing three shots on goal.
There were opportunities to score, however, Kai Havertz blazed a couple of opportunities wide. While surprise inclusion, Hakim Ziyech, came closest to breaking the deadlock when his deft lob over Bernd Leno hit the upright before eventually being cleared off the line.
Nothing should be taken away from Fulham’s defence, who put in an organised shift to thwart the Chelsea wingers and full-backs.
Something that Marco Silva pointed out in the post-match press conference, saying: “Our starting 11 settled in well and understood the strategy for this match. We were intense, brave, and showed courage throughout.”
Friday night also saw the return of Reece James. The injury-hit defender put in some well-timed tackles and made some overlapping runs, before being taken off in the 59th minute.
The player to make the biggest impact was Raheem Sterling, who came on in the 62nd minute and instantly injected some sense of urgency. He also came close to winning it all in extra time, but his chip from out wide was saved by Leno.
Potter said: “We didn’t do enough to win. We lacked understanding with new players and players coming back from injury.”
The 40,041 fans in attendance watched a fairly even game. Chelsea is a side that looks cobbled together at the moment and did little to trouble Fulham’s defence. Maybe with some time, those passes that are a second too early or late will turn into incisive, game-winning passes.
“I’m confident with the potential we have” adding “what we need to do now is gel the team. There’s still a lot of football to go.”
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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