Our live stream ahead of Saturdays Premier League match, Fulham vs Chelsea is now up, kicking off at 17.30 GMT.
You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, lineups, predictions and much more…
Fulham were initially due to host Chelsea on Friday evening, but the match was rescheduled for Saturday when the Cottagers were pressed into action on Wednesday to play their postponed fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.
In what was the club’s first Premier League match since Boxing Day, Scott Parker’s side claimed a point at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Ivan Cavaleiro cancelling out a first-half effort from Harry Kane.
Fulham have now drawn each of their last five in the league against Liverpool, Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United, Southampton and Tottenham, but they have only won once since the start of November and currently sit down in 18th position in the table, two points behind 17th-placed Brighton.
Chelsea will be looking to return to winning ways having lost 3-1 to Man City in their last league outing.
Frank Lampard’s side have actually won just one of their last six in the league, which has seen them drop down to ninth position in the table, now 10 points off leaders Manchester United.
There is believed to be pressure building on Lampard, and a poor result this weekend would leave the club’s former midfielder in a tough spot ahead of a difficult trip to Leicester City on January 19.
Chelsea’s record over Fulham is incredibly strong, though, having not lost to their rivals in the league since March 2006 – when Luis Boa Morte scored the winner at Craven Cottage – and the Blues will be targeting a sixth straight victory over the Cottagers on Saturday evening.
The two clubs last met in March 2019, with Chelsea beating the Cottagers 2-1 at Craven Cottage…
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Scott Parker
Will the rescheduling of Spurs, create an issue for the Chelsea clash?
“It’s always going to be a concern. It’s going to be a concern for large parts of the season, not just for us, for a lot of teams.”
“Of course, when you’re a team like us the squad depth is probably not as big as some others and maybe that will be the case.”
“As I said last night, it was a big ask for the players and it’s going to be another big ask come Saturday which is another quick turnaround but one which we’re preapred for, physically we’re prepared for, we’ll give it another go and show our quality hopefully again.”
Only thing that went wrong, the goal celebration? Realistic to stop this?
“It’s definitely something we all need to understand. Everyone is trying to address it. These are habits from every young child that plays football, one thing you want to do is score a goal and what you’re used to doing is celebrating. A new rule has just come in, literally just now, that players are reminded that can’t take place and we understand the vision of that, rightly so.”
“I suppose it is going to take a little bit of time on that because of the raw emotion and the habit, like I said, but constantly that message is being relayed to the players. That message will keep being reinforced and the Premier League are doing that as well.”
“No denying there are going to be hiccoughs along the way because you’re taking something out of some players but we need to address it but we’ll keep trying to do that.'”
Did Jose get too close to you last night?
“Again, it is difficult. It’s a tough one. I think we’re all responsible, we all understand what needs to happen. We’re trying our hardest we’re in a working environment. Every manager I probably speak for here, every day you come in and constantly second guessing things. I realise the spotlight is on us and the seriousness of that the country faces and we’ll keep trying to do it the right way.”
What is the latest on Aleksandar Mitrovic, Mario Lemina and Tom Cairney?
“Mitrovic is possible to be there for the weekend. Trained today lightly, we’ll see how he pulls through tomorrow. The other two are just not available at the moment. We’ll see where we are with them in the coming days. Tom has a slight issue with his knee.”
Going to play Chelsea, unbeaten in five, confident of doing something against them?
“I felt last night we played exceptionally well. I thought the quality we have shown in the last few games breeds a lot of confidence to go unbeaten in this division for a team like us for a sustatined period of time against very good opposition shows how far we’ve came.”
“No denying the weekend is another massive task for us and a big challenge. Frank and Chelsea and the quality the possess they can hurt you and it’s a tough game for us. We’ll need to bring the same quality and passion to cause them an upset.”
Is Ruben Loftus-Cheek showing Chelsea what they’re missing?
I thought he was exceptional last night, I thought he was top. A player we all understand the quality he has. He’s not played a lot of football for some time and last night and the last few weeks seeing a player with not just massive potential, that word has surrounded Ruben for some time, I think we’re seeing every bit of a top player and a Chelsea player. We’re pleased to have him amongst us and hopefully he’ll keep performing and getting better.
What has changed over the last six games or so to turn things around?
“I think we’ve changed tactically a little bit, our shape has changed. We’ve worked tirelessly throughout the season, we’ve come up with something and drilled that and the players were comfortable in it. It’s been working and time for us.”
“This team came fourth in the Championship, had a really quick turnaround to get into the Premier League, brought a lot of players in and players last year as well with the first time playing in the Premier League.”
“There isn’t a magic wand. It’s hard work, it’s drilling the team, it’s a group of players wanting to work tirelessly hard to get better. You’re seeing the rewards of that.”
“Of course the quality and the way we played, we’re more dynamic, we look a real threat. In every aspect of our game we’ve improved. Overall as a team we tick a lot of boxes. I still believe we can improve a lot more and we need to maintain that and push on.”
Does that give you satisfaction?
“Satisfaction comes from results, satisfaction comes from seeing my team impress and do well. Of course from that element there’s a lot of satisfaction. I saw where the team were, where we need to improve, I see where we need to develop, where our flaws were and I’m glad I’ve got good players who see that as well.”
“Sometimes it’s easy to rip the page up and start again, that wasn’t the case and all of us here have tried to build something stuck with what we believed in and the players have took on board that.”
Chelsea favourites but give your momentum and their struggles – is it a good time to play them?
“It’s a good time for us to play anyone. I feel like we’re in a good place, I feel like confidence is high in the squad. I feel like there’s a group of players here starting to feel their worth in the division really. A tough game like you said against an exceptionally tough team in Chelsea. But in saying that where in a place where on Saturday we’ll give them a game and hopefully try and get something out of it. We approach every game like that.”
Frank has said Chelsea are in a tough place – weaknesses you can exploit?
“Of course, yeah. Like anything, same for Spurs a little bit, like all teams, we’ll hit that patch at some point, we hit it early on. We’ll come across that the way the league is this year. What I do know is, if we approach this game like we have and show our quality we’ll give everyone a good run and a good game.”
Closing the gap on Brighton with games in hand, out of it in a couple of weeks time?
“I didn’t take much notice of the stuff said at the start and I’m probably not now. I don’t take to much focus in the league table. For me it’s about impression, it’s about developing a team here that I know can win football matches and I know if we can do that we’ll be ok. What will drown us is the ‘what if’ thinking, ‘where are we sitting in the league’, we need to eradicate all that. Just a clear focus on getting better individually and as a team and if that’s our main focus, I think we’ll be on the right path.”
“We’ll see at the end of the season, five games to go, three games to go, 10 games to go – whenever that time may be, I’ll start looking. between now and then, lets just have this focus to get better.”
Frank Lampard
On rescheduling…
“We weren’t actually flexible [with moving the Fulham game], we were just told what the games would be so that wasn’t our flexibility,”
“My preference would have been to keep the game on a Friday but that was overruled and with Covid and the situation, I’m very happy to play fair with that”
“I understand it. It hasn’t killed us this weekend, the schedule hasn’t made us play two games in two days so I’m fine with that and we all have to try to and understand the situation.
“But, again, we weren’t looked after over Christmas when we could have been and, for me, the Premier League has to open the dialogue and there be much more discussion.
“It can’t be that you’re just told. It must be an open conversation and I understand Scott’s point being told two days before having to play in the Premier League. That, for me, really isn’t good enough.”
FORM:
Fulham Premier League form: LDDDDD
Fulham form (all competitions): DDDDWD
Chelsea Premier League form: LLWLDL
Chelsea form (all competitions): LWLDLW
LINEUPS:
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Areola; Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo; Tete, Reid, Reed, Anguissa, Robinson; Lookman, Cavaleiro
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; James, Zouma, Silva, Chilwell; Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount; Pulisic, Werner, Ziyech
SPORTSMOLE PREDICTION:
Fulham 1-2 Chelsea
This has all of the makings of a very, very interesting game of football, particularly as Fulham will enter the contest off the back of an excellent performance and result.
Chelsea’s league form has been disappointing in recent weeks, but we just fancy Lampard’s side to edge their way to all three points on Saturday.
Time to take a look at our Fulham vs Chelsea live match stream as it happens…
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