Fulham - Match Preview

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Two teams at opposite ends of the Premier League table square off this weekend as bottom side Fulham host top of the table Chelsea on Saturday afternoon. Felix Magath, Fulham's third manager this season, will be taking charge of his first home game. The new manager is under immediate pressure as there are only 11 games left and Fulham are 4 points adrift at the bottom. For Chelsea, the game this weekend represents the start of the home stretch in their chase for the Premier League title and manager Jose Mourinho will be determined to maintain their slim advantage at the top.

Date: Saturday, 01 March 2014, 15:00 GMT
Venue: Craven Cottage

Opposition: Fulham are rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table on 21 points. Magath saw three points snatched from him in his first match in charge in last Saturday's visit to West Brom with Matej Vydra scoring a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw. Fulham's leaky defence constitutes a large part of their problems. They have conceded 59 goals this season, 11 more than any other team. In recent years, they have maintained a good record at home but that has not been the case this season as Fulham have only picked up 10 points at home.

Magath is no stranger to relegation battles. The Bavarian saved a Frankfurt side from relegation with 17 games to go and eight points from safety. They stayed up by two points with the third-best record in the Bundesliga over that period.

Chelsea: After the longest away trip of the season to Turkey on Wednesday, the short drive to Fulham offers Jose Mourinho's men little respite. While Chelsea are currently top of the table, they are only one point ahead of Arsenal with Man City and Liverpool close behind. With City not playing in the league for 2 weeks and Arsenal facing a tough trip to Stoke, Chelsea will be eyeing up a chance to extend the lead at the top. In the reverse fixture back in September, Chelsea won 2-0 with John Obi Mikel breaking his Premier League duck

But Mourinho is not entirely pleased with how things are going at the moment. The manager once again lamented his side's lack of a killer instinct in the same week his off-the-record comments about Chelsea strikers were leaked. Chelsea do have the best defensive record (conceding just 21) but only 2 times in the last 5 years has the team with the best defence won the league while the team with best goal difference has won the title in 4 of the last 5 years.

Team News
Fulham: Magath has a full-strength squad to choose from including club record signing Kostas Mitroglou

Chelsea: David Luiz is doubtful with a muscle injury while long-term absentee Marco van Ginkel is making good progress in his recovery from a torn ACL. He is currently back in training and is on course to get back to match-fitness by the end of the season

Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah are set to return to the squad after missing the trip to Galatasaray. They are both unavailable in the Champions League

Possible Lineups
Fulham - Stekelenburg - Riether Hangeland Heitinga Riise - Dejagah Parker Sidwell Holtby Richardson - Mitroglou

Chelsea - Cech - Ivanovic Cahill Terry © Azpilicueta - Matic Ramires - Schurrle Oscar Hazard - Eto'o

Referee - Mark Clattenburg referees his 3rd Chelsea game this season. He previously oversaw Chelsea's wins over Crystal Palace and Hull City

Stats and Facts
- Fulham have lost 13 of their last 17 league games at home
- The Cottagers have not kept a clean sheet in their last 12 league matches
- Fulham have allowed the opposition more shots on target against them than any other team in the Premier League (173)
- Chelsea have allowed the opposition fewer shots on target against them than any other team in the Premier League (81)
- Chelsea have 8 cleansheets in 11 games this year conceding just 3 goals
- In addition to having the best defensive record overall, Chelsea have conceded the least number of goals away from home (12 in 13 games)
- Chelsea are 10 points ahead of where they were in the same stage last season
- Chelsea are looking for their 100th win in Premier League London derbies having won 99 in 200 games

Personal Milestones
- Samuel Eto'o's next goal will be the 300th of his club career (Leganes 4, Real Mallorca 68, Barcelona 130, Inter Milan 53, Anzhi Makhachkala 36, Chelsea 8). The striker also turns 33 on Monday
- If selected, Eden Hazard will make his 100th appearance for the Blues
- If selected, Lampard will play his 573rd career Premier League match and move ahead of David James as the second all-time Premier League appearance maker behind Ryan Giggs (629). It will also be his 400th Premier League start for Chelsea

Match Odds
Fulham - 13/2 Draw - 7/2 Chelsea - 2/5

Odds by SkyBet

TV and Internet Coverage
Australia - Fox Sports 1
Belgium - Sporting 2, Be Sport 1
Brazil - ESPN Play Latin America, ESPN + Andina, ESPN + Sur
India - Star Sports 4
United States - NBC Sports Live Extra
South East Asia - BeIn Sport
International - Chelsea TV

For additional countries, click here.

There should be many match streams that can be found online if your local sports channels are not broadcasting the game or if you happen to be busy and cannot catch the game live, follow TalkChelsea on Twitter as it would provide live match commentary on the action.

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