Fulham have taken four points off rivals Chelsea this season, after an entertaining goalless draw at Stamford Bridge on Friday.
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Just days after breaking the UK transfer record to sign Enzo Fernandez from Benfica, taking his January spending to over £300m, Graham Potter has failed to claim what would have been just his third league win since October.
In a very close game where both teams had chances, neither found a decisive advantage to take the three points.
Marco Silva’s side defended brilliantly and kept expensive Chelsea at bay all night.
The big news ahead of the game was that Fernández would make his full Chelsea debut just three days after signing for £106.8m.
After a lively performance at Anfield two weeks ago, Mykhailo Mudryk made his first start for Chelsea Blues as Potter changed his formation from a 3-4-3 to a 4-3-3
Potter will be hoping this is a way to solve his scoring woes as they are yet to score more than one goal in a game in 2023.
With Raheem Sterling back in the team and Noni Madueke also making his debut as a substitute, the club have plenty of exciting attacking options, but nothing can make a difference tonight.
Hakim Ziyech and Conor Gallagher were also interesting newcomers to the starting line-up as they both came close to leaving the club at the end of the window, but the former was one of the standout players in an intriguing clash.
There were no surprises for Fulham as neither of their new signings Sasa Lukic and Cedric Soares made the matchday squad.
It took a while to get going, but an excellent pass from Thiago Silva created the first chance of the game when he passed to Kai Havertz, only to be saved by Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Havertz missed two more good chances in the first half, the first, failing to get a clean touch on Mason Mount’s square ball, which returned at the mercy of the goal.
He was then denied by the German post 45 in the closing stages of the first period when Ziyech’s excellent high pass allowed him to bring down Leno but the ball bounced off the post with Issa Diop and Tim Ream on the run.
Fulham also had their share of the game as Andreas Pereira tested Kepa Arrizabalaga with a powerful shot before Kenny Tete ran and sprinted and Willian lost his conviction with a header.
The first half was very even, but Fulham’s full-backs and centre-backs caused Chelsea problems as they charged straight into the box.
A scoreless first 45 minutes meant Chelsea have not conceded a first-half goal in any of their last 11 matches.
Benoit Badiashile was again solid in defense and Chelsea have not conceded a goal in their three games, so Kalidou Koulibaly will continue to fight to regain his place in the team.
After an uneventful first half, Mudryk made a surprise substitution at the break to give Madueke a chance on his debut, only to be denied a debut goal by the brilliant Tete when his last-minute header denied him a touch.
Aleksandar Mitrovic, who had a rather quiet night, almost grabbed the headlines when his shot from midfield almost caught out Kepa, but Chelsea had the better chances in the last half hour.
Fernández almost made his dream debut when his 25-yard shot went wide of the post.
Gallagher also went close for Potter when his effort rolled into the side-netting from the edge of the box, leading many at Stamford Bridge to believe he had broken the deadlock.
Just 60 seconds later, debutant David Datro Fofana had a great opportunity to score his first goal for the club when he chipped past Leno but was saved on the line by Ream.
Fulham’s draw means no Premier League side have collected more points since the World Cup than the Cottagers, as it was their 13th in seven games.
That put him up to sixth for now, but that could change as the weekend progresses.
Chelsea climbed a place to ninth, but will be disappointed not to win again after two successive draws without a goal.
They have another London derby on the horizon when they travel to the London Stadium next weekend to face West Ham United.
Earlier this week, Fulham have an FA Cup replay at Sunderland before the visit of Nottingham Forest to Craven Cottage.
Lineups:
Chelsea (4-3-3):
Kepa; James (Azpilicueta 60), Thiago Silva (c), Badiashile, Cucurella (Chilwell 84); Fernandez; Ziyech (Sterling 60), Gallagher, Mount (D Fofana 75), Mudryk (Madueke h-t); Havertz
Unused subs: Bettinelli, Chalobah, Koulibaly, Chukwuemeka
Fulham (4-2-3-1):
Leno; Tete, Diop, Ream (c), Robinson; Reed (Cairney 90+1), Palhinha; Willian (Wilson 75), Pereira (Kurzawa 90+4), Decordova-Reid (Solomon 75); Mitrovic (Vinicius 90+1)
Unused subs: Rodak, Adarabioyo, Duffy, James
Bookings:
Match Stats:
