On Sky
Two defeats on the bounce, against Everton in the Premier League and FC Basel in the Champions League, have given the tabloid press plenty to talk about. Our start to the 2013/2014 season has been far from what we anticipated when Jose Mourinho announced he was returning to Stamford Bridge. Suddenly there are whispers that perhaps our squad isn`t as good as we thought it was and that perhaps Jose has lost his magic touch. Is a fixture, against Fulham, the ideal chance to put matters right or is a local derby the last thing we wanted at this time?
Vital Quotes:
Jose Mourinho, on Wednesday night, looked a dejected man as he watched his charges go down to FC Basel. There`s no doubting that Cobham was a busy place on Thursday morning as the coaching staff tried to right a few wrongs.
On the back of the poor result, Jose Mourinho is quoted as having remarked,
“We are not scoring goals because we`re not an offensive team and don`t play offensive football – because we have an attacking mentality.”
“I feel we are going in the direction we want to be, but the reality is we are not scoring. But if we play a defensive game and just go on the counter-attack, probably we go and score two or three goals.”
But is that the way forward or does Jose sound a slightly confused man?
Chelsea Team News:
Jose Mourinho shuffled his pack against FC Basel, making five changes to the side that lost at Everton last weekend. Here at Vital Chelsea we reckon that changes will be made once again. We expect John Terry to return to the heat of the defence to bring his leadership skills to the side and we are also expecting Ramires, who was suspended in midweek, to return. Apart from that, we can`t read Jose`s mind but we wouldn`t be too disappointed if the following eleven were to start:-
Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Oscar, Mata, Hazard and Eto`o
Player to watch: Eden Hazard
If the Belgian does start he needs to start delivering. His performances have been way below the standard we know he can produce and, to be honest, he needs a kick up the backside as we all know he is capable of producing far better.
Fulham Team News:
Martin Jol has brought in new talent over the summer, the enigmatic Adel Taarabt has arrived from Queens Park Rangers and Darren Bent has arrived from Aston Villa. Jol has also bolstered his midfield by signing the former Chelsea player Scott Parker who joins two other former Chelsea players, Damien Duff and Steve Sidwell, in the Fulham squad.
Between the sticks, Jol has recruited the Dutch goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenburg, with Mark Schwarzer having joined us. However Stekelenberg has been out injured since picking up a shoulder injury in the opening fixture of the new season, if Stekelenberg isn`t fit David Stockdale will deputize.
Aaaron Hughes missed the game against West Brom last weekend and if the Northern Irish international isn`t fit then Philippe Senderos will fill the void.
John Arne Riise, so long a member of the starting eleven and a firm favourite of ours after his Champions League goal, for us, at Anfield, is most likely to be on the bench.
Bryan Ruiz, who looked to have picked up a bad ankle injury last week, is likely to be in consideration after his knock was diagnosed as bad bruising.
Player to watch: Dimitar Berbatov
The Bulgarian was taken off last week, against West Brom, with a slight hamstring strain but he is expected to play. Berbatov often gives the impression that everything is too much effort but he still has that knack of producing the unexpected and sublime moment.
Match Facts & Stats
Last season Chelsea won the away fixture 3-0, with two goals from John Terry and a peach of a shot from David Luiz, but drew the home fixture 0-0.
Looking into the history books, Chelsea have the edge over Fulham big-time with Fulham having beaten us only once in 34 league and cup meetings, that solitary win coming in the fixture at Craven Cottage in 2006.
The last time Chelsea lost a home fixture to Fulham was way back in 1979, when Fulham emerged victors by 2-0, but that was in the second division, as far as a top flight fixture goes, you have to go back to March 1964 for the last time the Cottagers beat us.
Ref Watch:
The men in charge are:-
Referee – A. Marriner
Assistant – S. Ledger
Assistant – M. Perry
Fourth Official – R. Madley
Match Prediction:
Both sides enter this fixture in relatively poor form. Chelsea, as mentioned earlier in the preview, have lost their last two whilst Fulham supporters greeted their latest failure to win, against West Brom, with a chorus of Jol Out cries. How this one goes will depend on who scores the first goal, if Chelsea get it we`ll cruse it, if not we`ll struggle. On Wednesday, against FC Basel, it was noticeable how heads dropped once FC Basel equalized and we never looked like winning the fixture. But I`m banking on Jose Mourinho not losing three consecutive games and Chelsea getting back to winning ways, possibly by the closest of margins, 1-0!
Next Fixtures:
Next up is a Capital One Cup tie against Swindon Town on Tuesday evening before, next Saturday we travel to White Hart Lane to take on Tottenham.