Chelsea suffered yet another defeat on Thursday night, losing 2-1 against Fulham. Joao Felix was red in his Premier League debut.
Fulham rose to sixth place with goals from Willian and Carlos Vinicius, and Graham Potter was ever closer to the Stamford Bridge.
Joao Felix and Chelsea started brightly. Joao Felix blasted past Tim Ream on his right flank, before putting the ball in the path of Kai Havertz at the penalty spot. The German’s next attempt on goal was blocked, but Lewis Hall would rush to block it. He could only hit his side-footed attempt on goal directly at Bernd Leno.
The lively start was abruptly ended at the 20 minute mark, when Trevoh Chalobah attempted a head clearance. Bobby Decordova–Reid burst into the box and lobbed the ball off the crossbar.
Fulham would win the opener through Willian, an ex-Chelsea player.
The Brazilian player cut in from the left side and hit a low strike into bottom left corner. It was due in large part to Chalobah’s leg. The academy graduate was not happy with the result.
Chelsea continued to push forward, with Hall being the man who would get the chance. Leno would push a half-volleyed attempt on goal by the youngster.
The Blues raced from the blocks at half-time and won the match in 47 minutes thanks to Kalidou Kulibaly. The centre back reacted first when a Mason Mount free kick from the left flank hit Leno’s near post to score the equalizer.
Joao Felix, the new star of the team, quickly halted any momentum the visitors had. Felix was a loan forward who had impressed in the first period, but his horrendous tackle on Kenny Tete at the hour mark earned him his second red card.
Fulham’s 11-man team would benefit from having an extra man in the 72nd minutes when Carlos Vinicius scored a fantastic cross from the right flank. Andreas Pereira crossed the ball from the right flank. He lobbed the ball brilliantly onto Vinicius’ head and the striker was not disappointed.
GK – Bernd Leno – 6/10 Another solid outing for ex-Arsenal.
RB – Kenny Tete 6/10 – Joao Felix nearly broke his leg.
CB – Tosin Adarabioyo – 6/10 – Havertz didn’t bother him.
CB – Tim Ream – 6/10 – Although Felix was a difficult man to please, it was easy sailing after that.
LB – Antonee Robinson – 5/10 – A few times caught in the first half.
CM – Harrison Reed – 6/10 All the time, worked hard.
CM – Joao Palhinha – 7/10 – Another fine performance from the summer signing.
RM – Bobby Decordova – 7/10. With a great strike from the penalty area to the right, the first half saw the bar rise.
AM – Andreas Pereira, 8/10 – Vinicius’ goalkeeper Vinicius received an assist from Bagged.
LM – Willian – 7/10 – The ex-Chelsea man won.
ST – Carlos Vinicius – 8/10 – Mitrovic was brilliantly replaced, bullying the Chelsea backline and scoring a goal.
SUB – Tom Cairney – N/A.
SUB – Harry Wilson – N/A.
SUB – Manor Solomon N/A.
SUB – Daniel James – N/A.
SUB – Nathaniel Chalobah- N/A.
GK – Kepa Arrizabalaga – 4/10 – He could not do anything about the first goal, but was unable to do anything about the second. An unreliable goalkeeper.
CB – Trevoh Chalobah, 2/10 There is a little bit of everything.
CB – Thiago Silva 4/10 – The best of the back three, according to
CB – Kalidou Koulibaly, 4/10 Although the first half was a little slow, the second saw improvement with a goal at its start.
RWB – Cesar Azpilicueta – 3/10 – He was a great player for Chelsea over the years, but he is not as dynamic as he once used to be.
CM – Denis Zakaria – 5/10 – An injury ended a busy midfield performance.
CM – Mateo Kovacic – 3.10 – Played around in an ineffective manner without ever achieving any positive results.
LWB- Lewis Hall – 4/10 – Early on, I was given a good chance.
RW – Mason Mount – 5/10 – His free kick was the key to the opening goal. His final ball was not as good as it could have been all season.
ST – Kai Havertz – 1/10 – It is very unlikely that this is a number nine. It was a zero performance.
LW – Joao Felix – 5/10 – He was very good, but he did get sent off so it’s difficult to rate him highly.
SUB – Jorginho – 2/10 – It is clear why Chelsea don’t want to give him a new contract.
SUB – Conor Gallagher N/A
SUB – Marc Cucurella – N/A.
SUB – Hakim Ziyech – N/A.
SUB – Carney Chukwuemeka – N/A.