Although the Blues came within a goal of scoring the winning goal on multiple occasions, the Blues were forced to settle for a draw despite showing some promising signs of what the future might hold for the club, including several new signings and familiar faces returning from injury.
On the same day that newcomers Enzo Fernandez and Noni Madueke made their Chelsea debuts, we played Fulham at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. Reece James, Raheem Sterling, and Ben Chilwell also returned to action.
After Kepa Arrizabalaga made an impressive save to deny Andreas Pereira, the home team kept coming close to making a breakthrough. It took some time for the game to get into a rhythm.
Before Conor Gallagher rippled the side-netting and David Fofana appeared to have scored a brilliant first Chelsea goal, David Fofana's effort was cleared off the line by Tim Ream. Tim Ream's last-ditch intervention and the inside of the post prevented Kai Havertz from scoring in the first half.
Now for the fun!
Place yourself right in the middle of the action The selection The Chelsea starting lineup changed three times from the draw against Liverpool last time. Three of our January signings started right from the start, and Reece James made his first appearance since suffering an injury against AC Milan in October.
The only change to our back line was James moving to the right side of the defense in place of Trevoh Chalobah, while Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile, and Marc Cucurella continued in front of Kepa Arrizabalaga. The squad was led by Thiago Silva.
Our most recent signing, Enzo Fernandez, made his debut for the Blues at the earliest opportunity, just a few days after joining from Benfica, replacing Jorginho in the midfield. Conor Gallagher and Mason Mount joined him in midfield.
Our attack continued with Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech, but Mykhailo Mudryk joined them. Mudryk started his first game for Chelsea after coming off the bench at Anfield.
editorial/match-reports/2022-23/Fulham home/Mudryk_Fernandez_James_Fulham_H_warm_up_GettyImages-1462253264 New signings Mudryk and Fernandez, as well as returning James, warm up in shirts celebrating the Year of the Rabbit. Prior to kickoff, there was a lot going on at Stamford Bridge, including the presentation of an award to mark Cesar Azpilicu
Before making his debut, new signing Enzo Fernandez was shown to the Stamford Bridge crowd. There was also a moment of applause for Jorginho, who left for Arsenal on transfer deadline day after four and a half years at Stamford Bridge.
Banners honoring Academy graduate Reece James's injury-free return were also unveiled at both ends of Stamford Bridge just before kickoff.
editorial/match-reports/2022-23/Fulham Home/fulham_home_james_banner Before the game, Chelsea fans show their support for James. A tentative start There were two early sparks for Chelsea, both of which involved our new signings. First, Gallagher and Mount combined impressively in midfield to feed Mudryk on the left, but his return to Mount was just too far ahead of his new team-mate, allowing Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno to rush out and smother the ball. Fernandez did well to spread the play out to James on the right with space to run into, but he was ultimately caught by former Blues winger Willian.
Early on, James overlapping Ziyech on the right and Mudryk finding space on the left seemed to be our biggest threat. However, in a relatively quiet first 15 minutes for both teams, it didn't quite fall our way to create a clear chance.
In point of fact, the only time Fulham gave us a clear chance to score was when a careless defensive header just outside the box sent the ball back toward their own goal, and Havertz came close to taking advantage of the confusion. The German thought he was even closer when he cleverly flicked the outside of his boot to meet a brilliant Thiago Silva ball over the top, but Leno got a toe on it and the linesman raised the flag anyway.
However, despite our initial appearance of being the most likely to score, Kepa's excellent save kept the game goalless at the other end. After winning the ball in the air from a free kick deep inside their own half, Fulham broke quickly and passed the ball to Andreas Pereira outside the box. With his first touch, he spun toward the goal and hit a powerful low shot that Kepa stretched across to keep out of the bottom corner.
The offside flag was starting to become a frequent annoyance for the Chelsea players, particularly Havertz, who was caught out by Fulham’s line again as he tried to control a good pass from Mudryk, the Ukrainian winger showing a taste of the skill and pace that had prompted Chelsea to sign him as he cut in from the left flank. Kepa tips Andreas Pereira's shot wide Growing into the game
The Blues were having trouble finding a rhythm on the ball, and Aleksandar Mitrovic and Pereira both managed to avoid getting yellow cards from the referee as two good chances to launch a counterattack were ended by cynical fouls committed by Fulham.
After that, Havertz kept getting closer and closer to scoring. To meet Mount's pass across the goal, he was fully extended at the back post; however, a crucial touch by Tim Ream changed the ball's trajectory at the last moment, preventing the German from controlling his effort. The following opportunity came his own way when he put pressure on Ream while he chased a bouncing ball and got a toe on it. The ball wrong-footed the keeper but bounced just wide.
Kai close once more Havertz came within a hair of scoring once more just before halftime, so he must have been wondering what he would need to do to get on the scoresheet in this game. Badiashile was brilliant in anticipating a Fulham pass and stepping in to intercept it before playing a clever pass forward to Mount, which would have made it a fine Chelsea goal as well. He passed the ball to Ziyech, who then played a perfectly weighted pass over the Fulham defense and to Havertz before the goal.
editorial/news/2023/02/03/fulham_home_havertz_post Havertz hits the post This time, the German's run was perfectly timed to beat the offside trap. As he waited for the ball to bounce, he watched the keeper rushing out and defenders sprinting to the line before lifting a chip over them all. However, the ball was hooked clear by the visiting defenders after coming back off the near post and spinning wildly across the goalmouth.
Potter made a change at halftime, replacing one new player with another. Noni Madueke made his Chelsea debut off the bench in a straight swap on the left flank. Leno was on his toes and came off his line to claim the ball on the edge of his six-yard box, and the young winger was almost involved right away when Mount headed in a James cross.
Temperature rising Decordova-Reid sent a ball across the face of Kepa's goal in the second half, which was certainly a more lively start than the first, and Pereira charged in to make a challenge on Cucurella. The Fulham midfielder only received a yellow card after a VAR review, but he should consider himself doubly fortunate that it wasn't his second yellow card after avoiding a red card for a sly foul on Fernandez in the first half.
Potter made additional substitutions in pursuit of the opening goal, despite the slight shift in the momentum in our favor. The first was obvious: Cesar Azpilicueta took James' place, who our head coach had said wasn't ready for 90 minutes because of his injury. The second was Raheem Sterling coming back from a month out with an injury for Ziyech, taking up a spot on the left wing while Madueke moved across to the right.
The 5th Stand app editorial/Match action/Fulham (H)/GettyImages-1462284024 Madueke runs at the Fulham defense. Sterling tried to get things going right away. With a clever pass, he came within inches of finding Mount free in behind. We just needed that moment in the final third to open things up and score the first goal, but it was another indication that Chelsea were becoming more and more in control. Kepa hadn't been used since the beginning of the second half.
When Mitrovic attempted to lob Kepa from the halfway line, Fulham's best effort of the second half was when the Spaniard got back to his line in time to knock the ball off the crossbar. This may indicate that momentum was shifting.
Even though Fernandez raised the atmosphere inside Stamford Bridge when he came close to scoring a brilliant goal on his debut by firing a curling first-time shot that beat the goalkeeper but flew just wide of the left-hand post, that goal remained elusive as we entered the final 20 minutes.
When Ream poked a low Madueke cross away from danger with just over 10 minutes remaining, many inside the Bridge thought the first goal had finally arrived. However, Gallagher's first-time shot from the edge of the box ricocheted into the side net.
David Fofana, who was making his second appearance for Chelsea, was the next one to be left with his head in his hands. He raced onto Gallagher's ball over the top, took it around keeper Leno and then center back Issa Diop before shooting left-footed, and it looked like he was going to score a fantastic first goal for the club. However, Ream slid in just in time to clear it off the line.
editorial/news/2023/02/03/fulham_home_fofana_chance Fofana weaves his way toward goal on his home and Premier League debut, but a goal-line clearance prevents him from doing so. It appeared that Chelsea couldn't get any closer, with one shot cleared from under the crossbar and another coming back off the post. In fact, we didn't, as a match that showed glimpses of what the future might hold for the Blues with several new signings on display and
What follows?
Eight days remain until Chelsea's return to Premier League action against West Ham United on Saturday, February 11 at 12:30 p.m.
Chelsea: 4-1-1 Kepa; James (Azpilicueta 60), Badiashile, Cucurella (Chilwell 84), Thiago Silva (c), Fernandez; Mudryk (Madueke h-t), Ziyech (Sterling 60), Gallagher, Mount (D Fofana 75), Havertz Unused subs: Chukwuemeka, Bettinelli, Chalobah, and Koulibaly are booked: Fulham, Gallagher 64 (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, Diop, Robinson, Ream (c), Palhinha, Reed (Cairney 90+1); Willian (Wilson 75), Decordova-Reid (Solomon 75), Pereira (Kurzawa 90+4) Mitrovic (90+1 for Vinicius) Unused substitutes: James, Adarabioyo, Rodak, and Duffy were booked: Palhinha 22, Pereira, 59; Decordova-Reid, 67; Wilson, 84; Wilson, 90+3 Attwell, Stuart
No comments:
Post a Comment