Chelsea’s woes continue with first defeat against Fulham in 16 years

Chelsea’s troubles are far from over as the London side suffer another defeat against city side Fulham in their high-profile Premier League game played at Craven Cottage on Thursday.

The Blues, who were beaten 2-1 by Fulham, have only recorded one win in nine games; a stage in which they have never found themselves in the last 12 years.

Having been beaten by Manchester City on two occasions last week, Fulham are the latest club to condemn Graham Potter’s side to another defeat in what has been a torrid week for the Londoners.

As for the Cottagers, the 2–1 win was their first win in 16 years over their west London rivals and their fourth EPL win after the World Cup.

Former Chelsea star Willian gave the hosts the lead on 25 minutes thanks to clumsy defending from Trevor Chalobah before Kalidou Koulibally restored equality two minutes into the second half.

But the Blues, down to 10 men in the second half after debutant Joao Félix was sent off, faced Waterloo with Vinicius Carlos scoring the winner in the 73rd minute.

The game

Potter gave his latest signing Joao Félix a starting role as Chelsea sought their first EPL win since October.

The Portuguese then put the right foot in his debut and in the third minute he participated in Chelsea’s first goal.

Felix passed to Havertz, whose shot was blocked before Lewis Hall’s rebound was deflected.

The Cottagers then recorded an unsuccessful attempt on goal after Vinicius’s ball went wide in the eighth minute.

Despite the score remaining dead level within the first 20 minutes, Joao Félix remained a threat in the hosts’ back-court and his name was mostly uttered by the commentators.

The debutant got past two Fulham players: Antonee Robinson in the ninth minute and Andreas Pereira five minutes later.

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However, on 23 minutes, Fulham would have scored after Vincius clumsily headed past Trevoh Chalobah and sent a through ball to De Cordova-Reid, but the effort hit the crossbar.

Two minutes later, Chalobah deflected Willian’s shot to put Fulham ahead.

Felix’s 15-yard strike for Chelsea’s equalizer was parried by Bernd Leno in the 28th minute.

Meanwhile, Chalobah continued to have a bad night after conceding a goal, the defender also being shown a yellow card for a careless foul on Joao Palhinha in the 36th minute.

With five minutes remaining, Joao Félix came a little closer to scoring his debut goal for the London club, but was parried by Leno for his fifth save of the night.

With the Blues trying to rally, Kepa Arrizabalaga sprang into action as Vincius headed in a Tete cross and saw the Spaniard make a double save to stop the attempt.

Following the return of the second half, Kalidou Koulibally equalized for the Blues in the 47th minute with a rebound from Mason Mount’s free kick hitting the crossbar.

However, Félix’s brilliant evening was tarnished after being sent off by referee David Coole for a violation of Tete in the 58th minute.

The Cottagers then took advantage of Chelsea’s numerical deficiency to take the lead after a Carlos Vinicius header from Andreas Pereira’s cross that beat Kepa on 73′.

With the latest defeat, Chelsea’s hope for Champions League football next season has grown slimmer as they are nowhere near the top four teams on record in the Premier League.

It’s so bad for Chelsea that they’re not even in the top four teams in London, as Arsenal, Tottenham, Fulham and Brentford are all ahead of them in the Premier League standings.