The lowdown on Chelsea 1 Fulham 2 – A stunning last-gasp win for the Whites

A Cole Palmer penalty decided the outcome when the teams met at the Bridge last season and his goal set the Blues seemingly on their way to another victory over their neighbours. Fate decreed a different outcome as two late goals gave the Whites a first win at Stamford Bridge since 1979. The end of an agonising 45-year imbalance.

Here are the main takeaways.

THE LINE-UPS

Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernandez, Sancho, Palmer, Pedro Neto, Jackson (Nkunku 73). Subs not used: Acheampong, Bettinelli, Casadei, Disasi, Joao Felix, George, Guiu, Jorgensen.

Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Diop, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Iwobi (Sessegnon 90+2), Pereira (Cairney 74), Lukic, Traore (Wilson 67), Jimenez (Muniz 74). Subs not used: Vinicius, Benda, Cuenca, Godo, King.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

Cole Palmer – who else? – got Chelsea up and running on 16 minutes when he glided past Andreas Pereira and Sasa Lukic as if they weren’t there, before planting a ball through Issa Diop’s legs into the bottom corner.

But the Blues then struggled to impose themselves enough to extend their lead and lacked the urgency and flow we might have expected for a side looking to close the gap on Liverpool at the top.

Then came a memorable finale. Harry Wilson came off the bench to head in off a post from close range to level it eight minutes from time. Antonee Robinson was set free down the left by Alex Iwobi and a Timothy Castagne header back across goal was met by the Welshman.

It recalled his late, glorious match-winning double in another recent west London derby against Brentford.

But more was to come, as Fulham stunned the Blues with a winner deep into injury time (90+5) – Rodrigo Muniz finishing off a swift breakaway after being picked out by a Lukic cross from the right.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Marco Silva was intent on getting his players to take the game to the hosts and they thought they could get at the Blues’ left-hand flank through the muscle and pace of Adama Traore.

They also tried to get Iwobi on the ball down the left and shaded the possession stats and xG scores. Chelsea relied on Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho for width but lacked creativity. They missed the option of Noni Madueke – who was not in the matchday squad.

The Whites’ subs had a bigger impact than Enzo Maresca’s.  Christopher Nkunku came on to no great effect – although to be fair, he did come close with one strike – whereas Wilson and Muniz changed the game. Tom Cairney’s calm passing also bypassed the helter-skelter belligerence of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.

STAR MAN

That accolade looked as good as decided by the 16th minute. Touch, timing, vision, execution. Cole Palmer’s effortless early strike was his 26th top flight goal of the calendar year – taking him above the previous best set by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2001 and one shy of Bobby Tambling’s 1966 total of 27. He had two more attempts soon after that forced Bernd Leno into saves.

But in truth, it was the Fulham keeper who deserves the man of the match award. He was a standout player – making crucial stops at the end to thwart Sancho after the leveller and Nkunku after Muniz’s unforgettable strike. 

BEST MOMENT

For Fulham, it looked like their best would be no better than Calvin Bassey slaloming his way through the Chelsea defence from halfway – ending his rampaging shot with a low shot saved by Robert Sanchez – and the moment Leno made a point-blank save to keep out a Marc Cucurella header and made a flying leap to tip over a Fernandez drive to keep them them in the game.

The dances of delight in front of their delirious fans after the winner and at full-time pointed to even better during those last 10 minutes. They will live with those lucky enough to be in the away end.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

For Fulham fans, it was the sight of their former defender in the blue shirt of the unloved local rivals. Tosin Adarabioyo’s every touch was booed and his motivation for defecting to the one place that Whites fans would always find unacceptable was invoked. “There’s only one greedy so and so,” they bellowed. Or words to that effect. And that was the more polite of the chants. They were able to have the last laugh today too.

TALKING POINTS DOWN THE PUB

Are the Blues too Palmer-dependent to win the title? After last week’s shutout at Goodison Park, goals again looked a bit too hard to come by for comfort. They also allowed Fulham a lot of the ball and failed to close down a game they should have nailed after taking an early lead.

It will pour cold water on their ambitions a little. Blues fans will wonder what made their team so uncharacteristically insipid in losing for the first time since late October.

WHAT THE BOSSES HAD TO SAY

Enzo Maresca said: “I said many times, when you can’t win it’s important that you do not lose. I think the first 15-20 minutes of the second half has been the part I didn’t like, because we conceded too many transitions. First half I think we controlled that very good. We scored, we created chances. second half we gave them too much energy.

“In terms of lessons for sure manage the game better. We knew they are very good in transitions. They have so many players that can run a lot. For some moments we could manage much better the game. We can see that there are many things we can do better, for sure.”

Marco Silva said: “When you concede an early goal, it’s not easy, but we improved. Second half was good with much more bodies in the box. We started not at the best level but our reaction was much good and I really believe we deserved the three points. The way we built from the back was difficult for them to press.

“We played toe to toe with them. From the beginning of December away from home, we played against Tottenham, against Liverpool and now against Chelsea and against Arsenal at home and our unbeaten run keeps going and we wanted to break this hex here that lasted such a long time. We wanted to give this happiness to our fans. They deserve it.”

Pictured top: Rodrigo Muniz leads the celebrations after bagging the Fulham winner (Picture: ALAMY/Zac Goodwin)