EPL: Chelsea and Fulham play out goalless West London derby
Chelsea and Fulham have shared the spoils in this West London derby, as neither side were able to break the deadlock in a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Just days after breaking the British transfer record to bring Enzo Fernandez in from Benfica, taking their January spending to over £300m, Graham Potter was unable to claim what would have been just a third league win since October.
In a very even affair where both sides had chances, neither could find that clinical edge to snatch all three points.
Marco Silva’s side were brilliant defensively and kept out Chelsea’s expensively-assembled side all evening.
The big news pre-match was that Fernandez was in from the start to make his full Chelsea debut, only three days after signing for £106.8m.
After a lively cameo at Anfield two weeks ago, Mykhailo Mudryk also made his first start in the blue of Chelsea, as Potter changed shape from 3-4-3 to a 4-2-3-1 system.
Potter will hope that is one way of sorting out their scoring woes, as they are still yet to score more than one in a game in 2023.
With Raheem Sterling back in the squad, and Noni Madueke also making a debut off the bench, there is no shortage of exciting attacking options at the club, but none could make the difference tonight.
Hakim Ziyech and Conor Gallagher were both interesting inclusions in the starting XI too given how close both were 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 surprise inclusions 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 a superb pass from Thiago Silva created the first opportunity of the game, when he threaded Kai Havertz through but he was denied by Fulham keeper Bernd Leno.
Havertz would go on to miss two more good chances in the first half, firstly on the stretch failing to get a clean contact on Mason Mount’s square ball, blazing over with the goal at his mercy.
The post then denied the German in the latter stages of the opening 45, when Ziyech’s excellent lofted pass gave him the opportunity to lob the on-rushing Leno, but the ball bounced back off the post with Issa Diop and Tim Ream both scampering back.
Fulham also had their fair share of the play, as Andreas Pereira tested Kepa Arrizabalaga with a powerful strike, before a darting run and cross from Kenny Tete saw Willian fail to get any conviction on a header.
It was a very even first half, but Fulham’s full-backs and wingers caused Chelsea more than a few problems with lots of direct running and balls into the box.
The goalless first 45 meant that Chelsea have now not conceded a goal in the first half in any of their last 11 matches.
Benoit Badiashile was solid once more in defence, and Chelsea have still not conceded a goal in any of the three matches he has played in, so Kalidou Koulibaly will continue to struggle to win his place back in the side.
After a quiet first half, Mudryk was surprisingly replaced during the interval, giving Madueke the chance to make his debut, and the excellent Tete denied him the chance of a debut goal when his last-ditch header prevented him from claiming a tap-in.
Aleksandar Mitrovic, who had a largely quiet night, almost made all the headlines when his effort from near the halfway line almost caught Kepa out, but Chelsea had the better of the chances in the final half hour.
Fernandez almost made it the dream debut when his 25-yard effort flashed just wide of the far post.
Gallagher also went close for Potter’s side as his effort from the edge of the box rippled the side netting, leading to many inside Stamford Bridge believing he had broken the deadlock.
Barely 60 seconds later, debutant David Datro Fofana had a golden chance to score his first goal for the club, when he took it round Leno but was denied on the goal-line by the backtracking Ream.
This draw for Fulham means that no side in the Premier League have claimed more points than the Cottagers since the World Cup, as it was their 13th point in seven games.
It has moved them into sixth for the time being, but that could all change as the weekend unfolds.
Chelsea have moved up a place into ninth, but will be disappointed at the failure to win once again following back-to-back goalless draws.
They have another London derby on the horizon as they travel to the London Stadium to face West Ham United next weekend.
Before that, Fulham have an FA Cup replay away to Sunderland in midweek, before welcoming Nottingham Forest to Craven Cottage in their next league outing.
