Chelsea down Fulham in thrilling 3-2 season opener

Goals from King and Garcia not enough to earn Arbeloa first victory

A pulsating derby against Chelsea saw Alvaro Arbeloa’s first competitive game with Fulham end in a 3-2 defeat. Sensational attacking play from Chelsea, inspired by a brilliant display from Cole Palmer, gave our defence a serious reminder of the quality the division has to offer - but plenty of promise lies in our own offensive potential, with our young attack firing two goals in response and demonstrating their talent in a highly competitive setting. Losing never feels good, but there are far worse ways to do so, and we - and Arbeloa - can take a lot from the season curtain-raiser going forward…

First Half

You can’t afford to start slowly in the Premier League, even in the first game. With less than a minute played Fulham found themselves trailing - a long pass from Cuenca was pummelled back to our half by a Lacroix header, giving Palmer the space he needed to activate his talents. A pocket of space away from Robinson sat open - he burrowed into it, dinking the ball ahead of Cuenca’s hapless slide tackle and towards Joao Pedro, who stormed into the box and lifted the ball over the onrushing Leno. 1-0 inside 30 seconds, and Arbeloa’s tenure at the club had its first setback to overcome.

It would take some doing, too. For all Chelsea’s troubles a deeply gifted set of footballers fill their roster, and Xabi Alonso doesn’t need much to get them purring when confident. Our defence looked ropey dealing with Chelsea’s movement, centre-backs stepping out of defence to add bodies in midfield and cause positional headaches for the team. A James header in a congested area gave Rogers the room to fire a shot into a crowd, winning a corner that produced a volley for the right-back to do similar with. Later, with Colwill covering him, Hato took the ball forward from the left, driving into our spacious half and moving it rightwards, Palmer needing a block from Robinson to keep their lead from extending. Indeed, the Chelsea number 10 ran rings around us, the ball magnetised to his feet as he drifted around in search of the action, and an intensely nervy period with his foot on our necks was survived with a flurry of blocks around our box.

But we were healthier in attack, embellished with energy and intent across the forward line. New signings Palacios and Garcia showed real hunger, and with King looking more composed and Bobb adding extra spark to his game over the summer Chelsea weren’t allowed to settle into the game. Our press was high and effective, winning corners through nervy passes and sloppy errors from their backline. The physical acumen of Colwill, Lacroix and Acheampong meant our corners didn’t come to much, but being slick on the ball meant we could keep them trailing our action, moving when we moved, and building the pressure on a still-forming defence.

Such actions lead to goals, and ours came after 23 minutes. King’s positivity gave Chelsea headaches, driving forward with the ball to enter the final third and ping it into dangerous areas. Sanchez had already had to punch one of his shots out for a corner, and the young starlet set up Palacios for an effort the Spaniard lifted over the bar from a nervy position. But the cracks were visible, and we’d forced Chelsea back into their own box. As Bassey moved the ball into midfield, a smart one-two between King and Castagne one the right took the ball around Rogers, letting King cruise into the box - Lavia’s saunter towards him was too slow, and he drilled a shot towards the near post. Sanchez should probably have saved it, his dive horribly late and arms too flimsy to keep the ball from entering the net, but it mattered little to King, robbed of breaking his duck against Chelsea last season, and a long-awaited reward for his progress with us came through a fantastic equaliser.With momentum swinging our way, could we take the lead? Chelsea certainly looked stunned, wingbacks Hato and Gusto pushed back into a back-five, James and Lavia deprived of their extra-defender support and the forwards tracking back to try and soak up the pressure. King and Bobb continued to combine nicely along the right, creating a volley for Castagne blocked at the last minute and a ball across the box for Garcia in a rare patch of free space in front of goal - sadly, the striker stumbled, arching into a flimsy effort that Acheampong stopped.

Such misses gave Chelsea the chance to activate one of their own strategies - the counter-attack. Any loss of possession, be it through the aforementioned misses or an error on the ball, gave Chelsea the chance to power the ball into their front three, each graced with speed and verve. Iwobi’s gaffe saw Palmer flex these skills, galloping into the right side of the pitch with him and Berge trailing after him - allowing Palmer to locate Joao Pedro with a lovely cross, who thankfully pumped a stinging volley just wide of goal. Lavia won the ball in midfield shortly afterwards, feeding it to Rogers on the other side - Cuenca blocked his effort and James’ volley flew into the hands of a grateful Leno.

Testing the keeper gave Chelsea the edge again, reminding us of their looming danger. Confident again, they moved back into ascendency, stepping into our half and sculpting the remainder of the half. It was scary seeing our midfield, confident moments earlier, scramble around the pitch trying to disrupt the flow of balls into their key men. A corner won by an Acheampong run down the right led to James playing a deep ball into the box, headed down by Hato and volleyed at goal by Lavia, saved at close range by Leno again.

We needed to release the pressure, but our own composure was deserting us - and after a passing sequence that failed to manifest a meaningful shot, Chelsea struck a fearsome blow. It was Cole Palmer again, moving central to collect the ball and once again take eyes off the right channel a defender could burrow into. Lacroix did just that, wrongfooting a stunned Cuenca before taking the ball to the sideline, our ramshackle defence charging towards him. This included Leno, whose absence from the goal gave Chelsea an advantageous position - Lacroix played a simple pass back into the middle, where an unmarked Rogers latched onto the ball and planted it into the net. 2-1 to Chelsea, and we were fortunate that another piece of Palmer magic didn’t make it three before the break, dazing Cuenca with some guile and curling a shot narrowly wide of the far post.

Second Half

It was a game for attacks, not defences, and whilst the football was very watchable, a certain unease lay over proceedings for Fulham, who’d ended the half troubled by Chelsea’s attacking flair. Before long, the game had turned into the Cole Palmer show - an audacious run from his own half saw him string Robinson along like a puppet, breeze through a Palacios challenge, wrongfoot the American in the box and place a shot between him and Cuenca to fly towards the goal, only narrowly missing the target. He had his reward shortly afterwards though - with Fulham ambling around, a Sanchez goal kick was knocked behind our high line by Rogers, out-jumping Bassey in the process, taking the centre-back out of position and letting Joao Pedro surge through on goal. Or more accurately jog - Berge was unable to commit to the challenge, pinned a few metres away from the Brazilian as he took the ball into the box. In the commotion, Palmer had bounded from the right onto the left, barrelling into the chasm beside his teammate, and after being duly supplied the ball a neatly-placed effort sailed under Leno to make it 3-1 to the visitors.

They could have killed us off moments later, as a run from Hato down Castagne’s flank took him into the box, cutting the ball back nicely for Rogers - only the sharpest of interventions from Robinson denied him a second. Instead, Chelsea’s own hubris let us back into the game. A seemingly harmless Cuenca long-ball travelled diagonally towards Castagne, collecting the ball ahead of a dozing Colwill and pumping a low shot towards the goal. Sanchez managed to get to it but his save put the ball back into danger - Garcia, whose intensity had put him into action across the game, was sharp enough to guide his impulse header downwards, bouncing over the prostrate keeper.

What might have been 4-1 was instead 3-2, and Chelsea were rocked, Fulham shaken out of their slumberous nerves to find their composure with a spell of possession. The crowd behind them, the players marched back into Chelsea territory, our full-backs gallivanting along the flanks to try and get behind Hato and Gusto, the team hungry for the ball and eager to lay waste to the opponent. Crosses from Robinson and Bobb flew dangerously across the box, a combination from Bassey and Robinson saw a delightful turn by King create space away from Lacroix and lead to a shot that fizzed narrowly past the post and captain James took a booking for hauling King down on the charge.

But our eagerness got the better of our composure, and we couldn’t take the critical blow when we had the momentum. Chelsea tried to take back control with the introduction their substitutes: public enemy Enzo Fernandez for a jaded Lavia, booed upon every touch, Chavarria and later Neto on for fullbacks Hato and Gusto, and eventually pacey forwards Quenda and Estevao to give Rogers and Palmer a rest in the closing stages. They gave Chelsea the energy they needed to close down the space, frustrating our players and using the breaks in play to disrupt Fulham’s trajectory towards the goal. Opportunities were still there though, and a Cuenca ball over everyone bounced into the path of Robinson, blasting beyond Acheampong towards the goal. To Sanchez’s credit, coming off his line forced the American to make a decision - he made the wrong one, lifting the ball into the stands with an ugly strike using his weaker right foot.

The game began to tick away. We’d made changes too, Charles arriving to bolster our presence across the pitch, Sess and Kevin on to try and conjure some ferocity along the left, and eventually Muniz entered to salvage the game in the closing minutes. It was a mixed bag, probably disrupting Arbeloa’s vision for the team more than it did offset Chelsea’s grip on the lead, and by the time Muniz entered the fray our team was defensively open, letting Chelsea turn the game into a stunted one and eat time away. Sessegnon’s eye for attack was nice, taking yet another pass from Cuenca and skilfully getting around Acheampong to ifre a close range effort at Sanchez - his defensive one was weaker, and Neto had fun testing him at the back. Indeed, it was Chelsea that came closer in the final moments, a marginal offside from Quenda preventing Pedro scoring from his rebound. We were beaten, and as Muniz fired a tame volley for Sanchez to catch at distance, the final whistle confirmed it.

Promise or Pain?

One game into the new campaign, and what do we make of the early readings of Fulham? Despite the scoreline, there’s a lot to be excited about. Silva, for better or worse, coached a team that had become stagnant and predictable towards the end of the tenure. This team, both in pre-season and watching the early readings now, has life and energy, fire and desire. We have a striker that wants to get into the box, is keen to make himself known to the defenders, and whilst Garcia didn’t quite look the polished article in front of goal, he does actually have one - and a poacher’s one at that. Similar can be said of Palacios, though he doesn’t have the luxury of a goal to add to his statistics for the effort he made around the pitch. I don’t think they can be judged too much for not meeting our expectations in a game against Chelsea on day one - what they did across the pitch can be as important in these foundational periods, and their effort as part of the team helped shape the better moments of the game.

Oscar Bobb has returned from the World Cup with a touch more zip, letting him fox into the box with more consistency and purpose. His chemistry with Castagne, another blossoming returnee from North America, and King, meant our right channel was an avenue for success across the game, making Colwill and Hato look amateurish on more than one occasion. Offensively they seem to have raised their game, which is only a positive for the team. And then there’s Joshua King, scorer of the first goal of the season. We have sung his praises for some time, but today felt like the beginning of a new man - he appears to have grown in confidence, an extra bit of power and energy in his strides, wrestling defenders away from him to fire at goal and earning a fantastic goal for his efforts. King can be central to Arbeloa’s plans with a start like this - his talents belong at the core of a progressive, attacking team.

However, the exploits of our front four shouldn’t distract from the work that needs to be done. For as brilliant as they were, both our goals can be attributed in some part to horrific defending from Chelsea, giving us a far easier strike than many backlines would afford us. Perhaps this was made obvious when the substitutes arrived - Muniz and Kevin couldn’t get into the game, unable to rely on the stumbles of a Chelsea defence that had calmed down. This disguises the fact that we conceded three goals in an hour - our first in mere seconds - featuring just as miserable defensive efforts as Sanchez, Colwill, Acheampong and co were able to muster, and more might have been leaked had Chelsea focused in the closing sections of the game.

Defensively the team cannot afford to be as flimsy as they were today. Leno was a little curious in his movements off the line for the goals, though can point to several saves made over the course of the game that kept us from sinking further into deficit. Bassey aside I was worried with how our backline operated off the ball across the match - Cuenca looked stunned whenever Palmer or Neto moved towards him, and both Robinson and Castagne left a lot of defensive work to their teammates, Berge and even Iwobi required to cover for their absences. On the topic of the latter, I thought his role tonight was a strange one - removed from the action, playing passes from far too deep (but not as deep as the more-effective Cuenca, whose passes created one goal and could have earnt another with a better finish from Robinson) and unable to protect the backline. Shea Charles may be a better fit when he is ready to start matches.

New-look Chelsea

Let’s talk Chelsea briefly. Xabi Alonso is a big name, perhaps with the managerial acumen and the playing accolades to rein in a tempestuous young Chelsea squad, and there’s certainly a lot to take pride in today. Palmer was the star of a thrilling attack, playing beautiful football with Pedro, Rogers storming around ominously, James threading balls into dangerous areas, Lavia running the hard miles to keep things ticking over… it was irresistible at times, easily worth a few more goals than they scored. Revitalised, perhaps, from a summer without international action, Palmer and Pedro played with a point to prove - we were the first of what may be a fair few victims of their talents this season, and they were well worth the three goals they managed.

Of course, they also showed all the marks of what has been dogging them for a few seasons now. The lapses in concentration, be it pointless bookings or hideous errors, continue to hand the initiative back to opponents - whilst we were good to watch, our goal was one any side with aspirations of the top 4 - or higher - shouldn’t even consider conceding. They’ve got some good players around their team but it’s easy to see why so many column inches are dedicated to their poor attitude or individualism - sometimes they appear to lose interest in doing basic tasks, ones they excel in minutes prior, and it leads to soft goals being scored against them. Sanchez is an easy target because he makes horrible mistakes and never quite looks assured in goal, but he has several defenders playing ahead of him that doze off in games and you can’t do that and expect to escape with a win every week. The quality in their team will beat a lot of teams without trying - it is how well Alonso can rein in the other elements of his side that will shape the course of his future with them.

They at least have a win, though. Fulham are pointless after game one, but a long road lies ahead - I, for one, am excited about the shape of the future. We were competitive against Chelsea for much of the game, and have a chance to see more of the Arbeloa attacking football we showcased today in what on paper is a far easier contest against Wimbledon on Thursday. Bring on the new season!