Fulham vs Chelsea - Team News, Lineups and Key Stats

Chelsea make the short trip across London as they face Fulham at Craven Cottage, looking for their first win in the league in just under a month. They come into the game with some confidence after beating Morecambe 4-0 last weekend in the 3rd round of the FA cup.

The Blues are in for a tough game as Fulham who struggled at the start of the season gained a well-deserved point in their last league game against Tottenham.

Fulham come into the game off the back of five draws in their last five Premier League matches. Manager Scott Parker has recently been praised in the media after Fulham have turned around their early-season struggles.

Scott Parker Chelsea — Photo by Tommy Hindley/Professional Sport/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Parker, who signed for the Blues as a player back in 2004 for a fee of £10 million pounds, pinpoints a change of mentality and tactical adjustments are the key for Fulham’s recent form.

The game was originally scheduled for Friday 15th January but due to the outbreak of coronavirus at Fulham, they had other matches postponed and this game was subsequently pushed back a day.

Team News

Frank Lampard yesterday confirmed Chelsea had no injuries for tomorrow’s game. Reece James returned to training earlier in the week and will be aiming to start his first game since the 1-1 draw against Aston Villa last month. N’golo Kante picked up his 5th booking of the season in the home defeat to Manchester City and will miss the game through suspension.

Billy Gilmour will be competing with Jorginho for the holding role in the centre of midfield. Gilmour, was introduced in the 64th minute against City put in an assured performance and played the full 90 minutes against Morecambe is hoping to get his first league start of the season.

With a fully fit squad to choose from Callum Hudson-Odoi is pushing Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic extremely hard to earn a start and will count himself very unlucky if he doesn’t start at Craven Cottage.

Timo Werner scored his first goal since 7th November in the 4-0 win against Morecambe, is expected to lead line and it will be interesting to see how Lampard lines up with Chelsea setting their sights on a first league win since beating West Ham 3-0 in late December.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek will miss tomorrow’s outing against the Blues as Scott Parker confirmed the loanee is ineligible. Loftus-Cheek who made the loan move from Chelsea, back in September, in search of more regular first-team football was instrumental in Fulham’s most recent game away at Tottenham.

Parker went on to say:

“I thought he was exceptional last night, I thought he was top. A player we all understand the quality he has. We’re pleased to have him amongst us and hopefully he’ll keep performing and getting better.”

Fulham will also be without club captain Tom Cairney with an ongoing knee injury. Aleksandar Mitrović who picked up a slight knock against Queens Park Rangers may also miss the game, but has returned training in the last few days.

Frank Lampard on speculation surrounding his job.

“I’m feeling fine. I was aware when you manage a top club that pressure is always there. It’s very normal, its part of my job and focuses my concentration completely on how to get us results.”

Match Facts

Fulham have won just one of their 28 games in the Premier League against Chelsea. Their only win was back in 2006 at Craven Cottage under Chris Coleman as Luis Boa Morte scored in a 1-0 win. Jose Mourinho infamously hauled off wingers Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips after just 26 minutes in the defeat.

Fulham are also London’s oldest professional football club having been founded in 1879.

Manager Scott Parker’s first game was against Chelsea at home back in March 2019. It ended in a 2-1 win for the blues with Gonzalo Higuain and Jorginho scoring first-half goals.

Chelsea are hoping to avoid defeat, if so this would be the club’s fourth consecutive away defeat in the Premier League for the first time in 20 years.