In the end it was rather tame. Kai Havertz scored either side of half-time to settle the south west London derby and leave Fulham staring at an immediate return to the Championship. Defeat at the hands of Thomas Tuchel’s well-drilled and accomplished outfit leaves Scott Parker’s side nine points adrift of safety with four games left.
Fulham had started brightly hoping to catch their neighbours cold after their European exploits in midweek. The only signs were promising with only a well-timed tackle from Andreas Christensen preventing Ademola Lookman from a sight of goal and a couple of shaky clearances suggesting that the visitors might profit from their persistent pressing. Antonee Robinson offered more evidence of Fulham’s sense of adventure when he stripped Havertz of possession and surged up the left flank. Only an alert bit of goalkeeping from Edouard Mendy prevented the strugglers from taking the lead.
Chelsea responded quickly. Mason Mount was afforded far too much time and space on the edge of the Fulham box and conjured up a cross that was inches away from the sliding Timo Werner. The German might have been fractionally offside, but it was a timely reminder of the threat posed by Chelsea’s player of the season. Fulham didn’t heed the warning – as Mount played a pivotal part in the opening goal that arrived two minutes later.
Tuchel’s side went a bit more direct from a short goal kick as Thiago Silva lifted a high ball over the Fulham midfield. Mount ran off Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa to move into a threatening position, controlled the ball magnificently and then produced a wonderful weight of pass to release Havertz. The German playmaker didn’t even have to break stride as he held off Ola Aina and finished coolly past Alphonse Areola. He was denied a second almost immediately by a correct offside flag – and despite a shaky spell – Fulham didn’t cave in.
Robinson recycled a half cleared corner ten yards inside the Chelsea half with a lovely floated ball into the inside right channel. Lookman’s low curler carried plenty of power but Mendy’s reactions were enough to prevent an equaliser. Parker’s charges continued to probe, dominating possession, but they lacked an outlet in the area when the ball reached the final third with Josh Maja outnumbered by three centre backs.
Chelsea should have settled the contest before half time. First, Werner unselfishly pulled the ball across goal having run clear down the right but an instinctive save from Areola denied Hakim Ziyech. The French goalkeeper – so often Fulham’s saviour this season – was then on hand to foil Werner, who couldn’t get the necessary power behind his shot from the left angle of the box.
While the deficit was just one, Fulham remained in with a chance of the victory they craved to put some life into their bid to beat the drop. Belief would have been enhanced by the way they ended the first half. Former Chelsea defender Aina caught one beautifully on the edge of the area and, a deflection off Reece James, almost wrongfooted Mendy. The Chelsea goalkeeper managed to get a hand to it – and the rebound spun agonisingly out of Bobby Decordova-Reid’s reach.
Any hopes of a Fulham revival were dashed just two minutes into the second half. A delightful Chelsea move saw the advanced Ben Chilwell feed Havertz, who spotted that Werner had dropped into space in front of the Fulham defence. Werner threaded a gorgeous return ball through the visitors’ rearguard and Havertz rolled in his second goal of the afternoon to hammer another nail in Fulham’s coffin.
Parker’s side had given plenty in what was a very watchable derby but the second goal knocked the stuffing out of Fulham. There was a first Premier League appearance for eighteen year-old attacking midfielder Fabio Carvalho, who almost came close to a consolation goal in stoppage time after linking up with Aleksandar Mitrovic but ended up connecting with Mendy’s head rather than the ball as the Chelsea goalkeeper hared off his line.
The game is almost mathematically up for Fulham and, as Parker conceded in his midweek press conference, the club faces a massive rebuild to prepare for life in the second tier.
CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Mendy; Christensen, Silva, Zouma; James, Chilwell (Alonso 81), Gilmour, Mount (Abraham 76); Ziyech (Kante 66), Werner; Havertz. Subs (not used): Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Anjorin, Pulisic, Hudson-Odoi.
BOOKED: Zouma.
GOALS: Havertz (10, 49).
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Areola; Aina, Robinson, Adarabioyo, Andersen; Lemina (Carvalho 78), Anguissa; Cavaleiro (Onomah 78), Decordova-Reid, Lookman; Maja (Mitrovic 81). Subs (not used): Rodak, Hector, Odoi, Ream, Tete, Bryan.
BOOKED: Aina.
REFEREE: Kevin Friend (Leicester).
VIDEO ASSISTANT REFEREE: Darren England (Doncaster).
That was a truly dismal display of managerial ineptitude. Fulham not only lost but looked shapeless and clueless. No Reed or Mitrovic. Both Anguissa and Decordova-Reid looked like they had no clarity as to their roles. Cav and Maja as hopeless as ever. Almost all the corners wasted. Awful. Can only hope it sees the end of the dim-witted Parker.
Despite some spirited performances that saw us claw ourselves back to within 2 points of the team above us, we have collapsed at the most crucial stage and have picked up just 1 point from 18. Prior to the last 6 games, we looked like a decent team-albeit a team that struggled to score goals-and, if we were going down, at the very least, we were going down fighting.
But the performances recently have been dire-culminating in yesterday’s defeat to a Chelsea team that never had to get out of second gear all game.
We started off pressing high and causing problems. It seemed as though we had been working on this tactic at Motspur but, unfortunately, that lasted just 10 minutes before, once again, we simply surrendered the midfield.
How any manager in his right mind can imagine that Maja is a better player and poses more of a threat than Mitrovic is beyond me. Maja was a passenger throughout.
Decordova Reid is, today, being lauded by supporters for trying to undo Mendy’s gloves at a corner. Seriously? It was his sole contribution in a game that passed him by. How often have you heard commentators say that he is our top scorer with 5 goals? I’m sick of hearing it! Surely, over the course of the season, that should have changed to 6, 7, 8 goals? No chance.
Cavaleiro, statistically, had a decent game because he managed to get in 3 or 4 crosses. The fact that none of them reached a Fulham player doesn’t matter -at least on paper. Normally, he can’t even manage that so I guess we have to be grateful.
Lookman, usually our best attacking option, has been going downhill over the last few games and, against Chelsea, his corners and free kicks were nothing short of dreadful.
And on it goes.
Instead of having pride in a team that was playing with real grit and determination and looking like we were going right down to the wire, we now see a team that is going down with a whimper.
Scott Parker has talked himself out. His grammar is not brilliant at the best of times but his spirit and belief seemed to galvanise the players-or most of them-but, now, they have no effect and to hear him after the Chelsea game telling us that he saw a team that can win matches, that he was proud of our performance etc etc is to hear a man that has lost the plot.
Take a good look at our sub’s bench yesterday because they will form the nucleus of our team next season-and may God have mercy upon our souls!!!
We’ve come up short. We deserve to go down. The quality in the squad isn’t there to stay up. The new back 4 stopped the goals coming in from every angle but up front we are still Championship quality.
Could Parker have down more? I think team wise, keeping a team heading for relegation fighting every week is tough. He’s done as good a job there as we could have expected up until the last few games.
Team selections, subs, tactics I think he is still learning…but…surely by now if there was enough ability in the team it would have come through. My one regret is the treatment of Mitro and idolisation of Cav. That was a shocking mistake of which it is hard to assess the impact, but, I hope Parker stays. A new manager is another variable we don’t need with everything else going on. That said, I dont think we have unearthed some future managerial super talent so I’ll sleep easy if the club ditches him.
Personally cant wait for the Championship. There simply isnt any point in being a weak Prem side fighting every week. It is dire to watch. If we had of stayed up I really dont want to have to watch another season of survival football
My thoughts exactly Dave
We were always going to struggle after failing to sign another striker before the start of the season. We gambled on Mitro staying both fit and in form and he did neither. Maja was too little too late. We need to be proactive not reactive when it comes to building a team. Let’s hope that some of the younger players get a chance in the Championship.