Fulham - Match Preview

[Barbara 15,149]

The Match

The first west London derby of the Premier League season between Chelsea and Fulham kicks off this Saturday at 17:30 BST at Stamford Bridge with both teams struggling for form. Chelsea head into this game on the back of two consecutive defeats – against Everton and Basel – while Fulham have only won 1 of their opening 4 league matches so far.

If the Blues are under pressure coming into this match, then the same could be said about Fulham. With their only win coming in the opening match against Sunderland where they won 1-0 at the Stadium of Light – drawn 1 and lost 2 since then -, Martin Jol’s side has been struggling to find any consistency and best form. The Dutchman not only has had several injuries to key players to deal with but also the lack of offensive threat, which has hampered his team. In Fulham’s two Premier League away matches this season – against Sunderland and Newcastle – they have only mounted three attempts on goal and overall, Fulham have produced 36 shots but only 12 of them on target.

Chelsea, on the other hand, are not that much better off than their Saturday’s opponents. Having won their opening two league games – against Hull City and Aston Villa – they have then drawn at Old Trafford before losing to Roberto Martinez’s Everton last Saturday while also failing to beat Bayern Munich and Basel in the same period in Europe. Similar to Fulham, the lack of goals especially from the strikers have been an apparent problem for Jose Mourinho’s men as they have scored only 4 league goals – one being an own goal in fact – and while his side have attempted 68 shots in the first four Premier League matches, only 19 of it have been on target. The Portuguese manager will be hoping his side start banging in the goals soon if they are to bounce back from recent disappointment and win major honours this season.

Both managers are definitely under pressure though however, Martin Jol looks to be under more scrutiny of two with the Fulham supporters voicing their displeasure at their manager last weekend with the chants of ‘Jol Out!’ in their 1-1 draw against West Brom at Craven Cottage. He will be desperate to get a positive result this weekend to calm the fans but his managerial counterpart will just be as determine if not more to get Chelsea back to winning ways once again.

Teams News

Chelsea

Chelsea come into this game without any injury concerns and all are available for selection as Mourinho confirmed in his press conference earlier today. However despite that, it is still anyone’s guess of the manager’s starting line-up as he has yet to feature the same XI for two consecutive matches with constant changes to the defence and particularly the midfield and attack.

On one hand, Mourinho could see the recent poor results as an indication that changes need to be made which then may see the likes of De Bruyne, Cesar Azpilicueta and Ryan Bertrand – who have not played much this season – coming into the starting XI. The other could see him persisting with the same players that he sees will help to get his side out of the trouble which then Oscar and Andre Schurrle may continue to be favored in place of Juan Mata, Willian and also De Bruyne.

The selection in attack is also a mystery as Samuel Eto’o has been selected in the past two matches but looks to be lacking still in match fitness having joined during summer from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. This could well pave the way for Demba Ba or Fernando Torres to start tomorrow and stake a claim as the best striker in the team. With so many possibilities and few certain starters under Mourinho, this is a probable lineup for tomorrow’s game:

Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Ramires, Lampard, Schürrle, Oscar, Hazard, Torres (4-2-3-1)

Fulham

In contrast, Martin Jol has problems to contend with his goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, defenders Aaron Hughes and Matthew Briggs as well as Bryan Ruiz and Darren Bent all unlikely to feature in this game with injuries. Chief striker Dimitar Berbatov, however, is expected to feature despite picking up a minor hamstring injury recently. With that, Jol could well start with the following line-up:

Stockdale, Riether, Senderos, Hangeland, Richardson, Duff, Sidwell, Parker, Kacaniklic, Kasami, Berbatov (4-2-3-1)

Stats and Facts

1. Chelsea have not lost any of their last 14 Premier League London derbies to Fulham – W7 D7.

2. The Blues, overall, have a record of 14 wins, 6 draws and 2 defeats in 22 Premier League encounters against Fulham.

3. However, Chelsea have drawn 4 of last 7 matches against Fulham at Stamford Bridge and have not scored more than 1 goal in the encounter since 2009/10 season.

4. Jose Mourinho has never lost a Premier League match at Stamford Bridge – W48 D14.

5. Fulham won only 1 of their London away derbies in the 2012-13 Premier League season – 1-0 win against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Overall, P5 W1 D2 L2.

5. If goals from oppositions' strikers were excluded, Chelsea would be top of the table.

6. Fulham have conceded more corners so far in the Premier League than any other side (32).

7. Fulham have managed only 11 shots from inside the box so far this season; a divisional low.

8. The last non-British manager Jose faced in the Premier League was Martin Jol back in April 2007 when Chelsea beat Tottenham 1-0.

9. Martin Jol has lost both his Premier League matches at Stamford Bridge as Tottenham manager but has drawn both the two matches as Fulham manager.

10. Fernando Torres is yet to record a shot on target in the Premier League in 126 minutes of action.

11. Samuel Eto'o could become the ninth Africa player to score for Chelsea in the Premier League after Weah, Babayaro, Geremi, Drogba, Essien, Kalou, Moses and Ba.

Match Odds

Chelsea 2/7

Draw 9/2

Fulham 9/1

(odds according to SkyBet)

Coverage

TV:

Australia: Fox Sports 1

Belgium: Sporting 2

Brazil: ESPN

Canada: TSN 2

India: ESPN

Middle East: Al Jazeera

UK: Sky Sports 1

United States: NBC

For additional country or region TV schedule listing, you can check it here.

Internet:

You are likely be able to find many match streams available online to watch the game or alternatively, if you happen to busy and cannot catch the game live, follow TalkChelsea on Twitter with live match commentary provided as the action unfolds.

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[Jase 43,479]

*bump*

[Ankit 3,176]

Very nice preview but a special for mentioning the airing channel in respective countries. That's a new level of detail which is very impressive.

EDIT: I realize that its been mentioned in the previous previews as well. Still a very neat and precise one.

[Barbara 15,149]

Very nice preview but a special for mentioning the airing channel in respective countries. That's a new level of detail which is very impressive.

EDIT: I realize that its been mentioned in the previous previews as well. Still a very neat and precise one.

I included most countries I see our members here being from. Of course I couldn't cover all of them, but I've got the ones I see more members from and added the link to everyone else. I don't know if Jay or Nour came up with in one of their previous previews, I know I've copied from one of them

[bluesman2610 1,341]

Great read :clap:Was very insightful..

P.S. Like the new avi

[CHOULO19 24,332]

*bump*

Did you even read it before approving it, Jay?

7. Fulham have managed only 11 shots from inside the box so far this season; a divisional low.

8. Fulham have managed only 11 shots from inside the box so far this season; a divisional low.

[Barbara 15,149]

Did you even read it before approving it, Jay?

lol he's the one who doubled it as I just checked my original word file and it wasn't like that hahahahahaha

Still he polished the whole thing x10. So I'm thankful to my kitten

[CHOULO19 24,332]

So I'm thankful to my kitten

Yeah, I have no idea where we would all be without that huge pussy!

[Jase 43,479]

I included most countries I see our members here being from. Of course I couldn't cover all of them, but I've got the ones I see more members from and added the link to everyone else. I don't know if Jay or Nour came up with in one of their previous previews, I know I've copied from one of them

I'm the one that added more TV schedule listings in the last (Basel) match preview..

Did you even read it before approving it, Jay?

Aaah crap! :banghead: