Goals: 55. Raúl Jiménez, 81. Harry Wilson – 72. Liam Delap
Fulham beat Chelsea 2-1 at home to Chelsea in the 21st round of the Premier League in the London derby to claim their first win of the new year. The guests were made uncomfortable by the expulsion of Marco Cucurella, who already in the 22nd minute pulled the escaping Harry Wilson to the ground and was sent to the showers. Fulham used their power play for the first time after the change of sides, when Raúl Jiménez scored. Although the Blues responded thanks to Liam Delap’s first goal in a Chelsea shirt, Wilson had the last word, who decided the victory for the Cottagers in the 81st minute. Fulham extended their unbeaten run in the league to six games, while Chelsea went without a win for the fifth time in a row.
After two draws at the beginning of the new year, Fulham entered the London derby in a more relaxed state than Chelsea, which was dealing with a change of coaches. The Blues were last coached as head coach by Calum McFarlane as a temporary replacement for Enzo Marescu.
His rightful successor, Liam Rosenior, was already watching the game in the stands. Wilson had the first chance of the match after 90 seconds, but his hurried shot was caught by Robert Sánchez.
However, it didn’t take long for the Blues to start showing their strength, with Enzo Fernández’s corner kick being cleared by Leno with difficulty. Fulham continued to attack, Wilson’s next shot was saved by Sánchez and Tom Cairney’s effort was blocked. Fernández’s next corner caused further havoc as Andrey Santos hit the crossbar from close range and Sander Berge blocked Moisés Caicedo’s shot on the goal line.
After one missed corner, a big blow came for the Blues – Leno sent the ball forward and Cucurella was sent off just 22 minutes after his return from injury for pulling down Wilson, who got behind him.
A trio of Chelsea players and Marco Silva were subsequently booked for protesting, but further damage was done as both Wilson’s free-kick and Jiménez’s save were blocked. The match remained very even throughout the rest of the half. Fulham could have taken the lead, but Wilson’s set-up goal was disallowed for offside by Jiménez in the build-up.
Silva showed attacking ambition when he brought on Kevin in place of Jorge Cuency before the second half, and regular striker Wilson was remembered with a shot that narrowly missed the target after Trevoh Chalobah’s run. At the other end, Jorrel Hato headed in a corner, but Jiménez was much more accurate when he headed Berge’s cross into the bottom corner moments later.
Chelsea were then able to equalize when Delap found himself face to face with Leno, who displaced his finish with a reflexive right-arm save. Subsequently, the German goalkeeper neutralized Caicedo’s sharp shot and also stopped Palmer’s shot with his outstretched leg.
Chelsea’s equalizer finally came in the 72nd minute when Antonnee Robinson extended Pedro Neto’s corner onto the post and Delap promptly slotted the ball into the net. But the Cottagers were not caught off guard and were in the lead again within nine minutes – Wilson took the ball on the edge of the box and finished just against the post, although the shot was slightly touched by James.
The timely goal secured Fulham’s sixth consecutive Premier League game without defeat, moving them up to eighth in the table and within points of sixth-placed Chelsea. The Blues’ woes were compounded by the fact that they were pipped by Brentford after a fifth game without a win.
