Jimenez and Wilson down 10-man Chelsea at the Cottage

Fulham win 2-1 after Cucurella sent off in the first half

Don’t rub your eyes - Fulham have beaten Chelsea to go six games unbeaten in the Premier League! A risible red card for Marc Cucurella gave Fulham the upper hand, but two excellent goals from Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson let us claim an excellent 2-1 victory at the Cottage tonight. Liam Rosenior will have to pick up the pieces of a Chelsea side desperate for form and cool heads - his new side were outclassed by us tonight, in a game that demonstrated what team spirit and application can do in tight affairs like tonight’s.

First Half

It was a slow start at the Cottage. Chelsea, with Rosenior waiting in the stands, played a tame game in the opening minutes, getting on the ball but struggling to use their attacking talents to make anything truly special. Fulham, once again in the 5-2-3, had the structural integrity but yielded territory to Chelsea, and found themselves studiously warding the opponent, moving smartly to deny space for shots in the box and using Robinson and Castagne to take the ball back into Fulham territory. It was a decent approach, and produced the first direct shots of the game; a good crossfield ball let Castagne feed Wilson in the box, forcing Sanchez to catch, and the Chelsea keeper caught another effort from the Welshman that Smith Rowe supplied nicely on the turn.

The visitors have the bigger names though, and logic would assume they’d be able to produce more from the limited opportunities presented. The pace of Neto worked the space behind Castagne and forced Diop to intervene, producing a steady supply of corners; it was here that Chelsea came closest, World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez aiming for the goal and rigorously hitting the target. It required astute intervention on a number of occasions, as players swarmed around the six-yard box. Leno, swamped by bodies, had to punch one corner off the line. Another, aimed at the far side of the goal, bounced off Andrey Santos’ shoulder and onto the crossbar, before a rebound shot from Caicedo was narrowly blocked from the goal by Cuenca. A slick period of play that saw Andersen deflect an Enzo volley wide produced two more, both uncomfortably close to the goal.

But Leno was strong, keeping the goal clear of danger, and Chelsea’s advanced team presented an opportunity. With Wilson hovering around the halfway line, the German booted the ball over everyone, bouncing into the path of the Welshman, onside and only with Cucurella to beat. He had the better of the left-back, ready to storm into the box as the ball awkwardly bounced off Cucurella. Yet the Spaniard had latched onto Wilson’s arm, and yanked him down as he travelled into the area. It was an easy decision for Peter Bankes, and a swift red card was produced.

Not so swift was dealing with the aftermath, as the protestations of the Chelsea contingent rumbled long beyond the initial card. Yellows for Enzo, Tosin and Palmer, and one for Marco on the touchline, irked by the lack of a penalty call, increased the time it took before we could take the free kick - even in 2026, it’s staggering seeing professional footballers petulantly rack up the bookings harassing a referee over a crystal-clear decision. It’s perhaps a little generous to blame Wilson smacking the set-piece into Caicedo on this, and definitely too much to do the same for Jimenez’s rebound hitting Andrey Santos.

Santos’ block caused him discomfort, and gave McFarlane an easy choice in working out who to sacrifice to reinforce the defence - left-back Hato arrived from the bench to repair Cucurella’s damage. It signalled that the game was going to be dominated, at least on the ball, by Fulham, and allowed us to move into their half with confidence. With the three centre-backs on the halfway line, we had numerous passing options around the pitch, and pinned Chelsea into their final third, moving the ball around nicely. Berge was excellent here, intercepting Chelsea’s breaks and connecting play really well by advancing beyond his traditional deeper positioning.

It was a game of patience - we played well, using our play down the left to build attacks, but we didn’t quite have the attacking pieces on to make the most of our opportunities. Some loose passes from Robinson and Cairney in attacking areas allowed Chelsea to stave off the worst of our attacks and counter. One such incident let Delap dispossess Andersen to do just that, taking it forward and combining with Enzo to give it to Palmer, but the shot was tame and stopped easily by Leno. Of course, each attack for Chelsea moved their depleted numbers forward, and invited Fulham to respond. We did just that, and Jimenez found Smith Rowe intelligently in a pocket of space, producing a shot that narrowly fizzed over.

We had our breakthrough in stoppage time - after a long spell of possession, Cuenca passed the ball to Jimenez, Raul’s delightful backheel set up Berge, the Norwegian found Wilson ready to burst into a space in the backline and upon receiving the ball our in-form forward drilled his shot beyond Sanchez, opening the scoreline. Alas, Jimenez had tracked back from an offside position - presumably his foot was more than five centimetres behind the line. 0-0 it remained.

Second Half

The impetus was ours to make the difference in the second half. Certainly Silva needed no invitation to do so, taking off Cuenca - booked for hauling down Palmer just before the break - for Kevin. This returned the team to a back four, moving Smith Rowe to the centre and made it clear to Chelsea that we’d be the side on the front foot. Evidently the change made a difference - Robinson and Kevin immediately activated their combinations down the left, targeting Gusto and pumping balls into the box. It was a firestorm for Tosin and Chalobah, having to repel waves of dangerous deliveries from our left wing. Such actions created space elsewhere - Cairney found Wilson hovering in the centre, producing a sharp shot that deflected off Chalobah and rippled just wide of the goal.

Such pressure can cause any side to buckle, not least a young Chelsea side missing a key defender. After a long period of Fulham on sitting on the ball, Smith Rowe and Cairney worked the ball on the right, laying it off to Berge with breathing room. He curled a splendid ball over the defence towards the box, where Raul Jimenez waited; the Mexican, ahead of Chalobah, leapt above the centre-back, heading the ball towards the goal. Sanchez’s dive couldn’t stop the ball sneaking beside the post - our gunslinger had fired again.

We should have capitalised from here, advantaged a reeling, outnumbered opponent. The signs were good, too - right after the opener, Kevin, taking Jimenez’s interception in midfield forward, charged at the backline and blasted a shot just wide of the goal. With Chelsea trying to advance out of their own half sharp passes were bypassing Caicedo in midfield and placing pressure on the centre-back pairing - a long ball over the top from Andersen almost reached Wilson, and needed a tough intervention from Hato to halt. But, as is often the case, Fulham took their foot off the pedal, and gave the visitors a chance to regroup. Enzo Fernandez, a passenger in the second half, was withdrawn for Reece James - it gave Chelsea extra dynamism in midfield, a creative player well-versed in defensive duties to fit the tentative situation the visitors found themselves in.

From errant counter-attacks to sustained pressure - Chelsea started to claw themselves back into the game. Neto had been a source of discomfort along our right, and a Tosin pass dummied smartly by Palmer had given Delap a breakaway ahead of the defence that Leno stuck his arm up firmly to parry, but these were sparse opportunities. James put Chelsea on the ball in a more sustained way, alleviating some of the forward momentum we’d generated and putting the questions back onto Fulham’s defence. Silva had taken a defender out, putting more pressure on players like Castagne and Cairney, not quite our strongest defensive options, to withstand Chelsea’s attackers. With Andersen having a slightly flimsier game as well, Chelsea started to sniff a chance.

Gusto, moving forward from defence, combined with Neto to bypass the midfield and produce a shooting chance for Caicedo in the centre - it was struck well, but stopped concretely by Leno. Palmer took on Robinson on our left, manoeuvring around him to get into the box - he hugged the sideline and drilled a cross into the box, forcing Leno to divert it out for a corner. Suddenly we were returned to the first half, desperately trying to clear corners from the box. Enzo wasn’t on any more, but Neto proved just as diligent, and the goalmouth scrambles were unnerving our players again. A couple of clearances from Jimenez dealt with the first corners, but the pressure remained, and Chelsea worked the ball back into Neto running along the right side, winning a third corner from Diop. The Portuguese swung the ball tightly along the line, Robinson’s attempted defensive header lifted it further into the box, the ball flew towards the goal and over Castagne before striking the post and falling kindly for Delap, who could only help himself to a first league goal for Chelsea.

It was an ugly moment for Fulham - we’d blown our lead, allowed 10-man Chelsea back into the game and had it all to do to restore the advantage. But Silva’s squad had a healthier disposition to it today - the return of Sessegnon, along with Lukic, presented a massive boost of energy for the left side, and gave Kevin a new partner to work with. These were crucial changes, too - Chelsea had introduced Acheampong and Joao Pedro, players just as lively for the visitors and capable of guiding them to the points. Fulham took the ball and started making moves quickly, putting all the play in Chelsea’s final third and quickly funnelling the ball to our rapid left flank to unwork Chelsea again.

Though the goal didn’t come from the Kevin-Sess approach, the pressure generated was clearly crumbling Chelsea’s position. Acheampong had fresh legs but too much to do in stopping Kevin and the rejuvenated Sessegnon, who was tireless in his bursts down the left flank, perfectly reading the attacking situations to overlap and hold back his runs. It produced a flurry of tight moments for Sanchez’ box, requiring the centre-backs and Caicedo to make blocks and tackles in the box against Jimenez and a looming Wilson. The closest produced a bout of header-tennis, leading to Jimenez knocking the ball off the post with Sanchez narrowly able to divert the ball away - Chelsea were hanging onto parity by a thread.

Once again, our patience proved crucial. Fulham strung a multi-pass sequence together, pulling Chelsea bodies around the pitch in their attempt to scuttle our move. Wilson played a beautiful pass through Neto and Hato on the right to Smith Rowe, sneaking into the box. The midfielder fired a cross into the box, which Sanchez punched away from his box - but Wilson, refuisng to give up on the chance, had arched a run back into the box ready to collect the loose ball. He took a touch away from Hato and rifled a low shot through the crowded area, moving it away from Sanchez and into the back of the net. The crowd were enraptured, Silva was jubilant on the touchline, and Wilson wheeled away in delight - we’d restored our lead.

It wasn’t over yet, of course. Reed entered right after the goal for Smith Rowe, perhaps hoping to shore up the lead rather than score another screamer for the team, and Traore swapped for Wilson a little later. It was crucial, too - with Chelsea defenders pouring forward in their attempts to save the game, James had the bodies to try and pull the strings together and put Chelsea in a commanding position. Neto, fizzing down the right, forced a few more corners, and a few hearts in Fulham mouths, but the lessons had at last been learnt, and some strong defensive work kept Chelsea from putting another shot in from the set piece. And, as Traore took the ball from our half to the corner flag, the realisation of what we’d done began to set in. Full time - 2-1 - a fantastic win over Chelsea.

Flying up the table

It’s two games against the “big 6” in a row, and in both games we’ve held ourselves to a high standard and taken a strong points haul. 4 points, regardless of the state Liverpool and Chelsea find themselves in this season. I’ve said it before, but you have to praise Marco Silva’s management of the club here - we’ve always been good on the ball under him, and the guidance through his time in the Premier League with us has boosted the confidence we have to regularly play solid football in the big matches. This is now our third win over Chelsea under Marco - it was one in 39 before that, spanning almost half a century.

Wilson is the starring man again, with a fine goal - his ingenuity continues to win us points in spectacular ways, and we urgently need to get his contract sorted before he’s poached from us. Not far behind him in the scoring tallies is Jimenez, with a header that would satisfy forwards from any era - it shouldn’t be underestimated how crucial his goals are proving in the season, with yet another brilliant finish to push us ahead of an opponent. Smith Rowe wasn’t as involved today - the consequence of being forced wider in a front three - but once he was back in the centre he was pinging passes around nicely, and had a contributive role to both goals.

Behind them, Cairney looked a little tired - we forget that, after a decade of quality service for the club, he’s run a lot of miles for us, and the Premier League is a tough division to maintain this in. Still, he played an important part for us tonight, and helped consolidate possession for Fulham for large stretches of the game. Berge was the stronger performer in the middle though, and had one of his best evenings in a Fulham shirt - ruthless in the tackle, relentlessly pushing the team forward, and his vision produced a splendid assist for Jimenez’ goal. The wingbacks were a mixed-bag - strangely, the defensive duties of Robinson and Castagne were stronger than at the back, as both did a good job keeping Palmer and Neto on their toes across the match, but the crossing wasn’t as accurate as it ought to have been and they needed to offer a little more precision from their deliveries.

Defensively, there’s positives and negatives aplenty. Cuenca was excellent on and off the ball, and but for a needless booking against Palmer might have remained on the pitch and kept a clean sheet. Diop, once again, stepped up to the challenge of playing in the team - in both a back five and a back four - and did his duties diligently. There should also be special praise for Castagne - he has his wobbles, but he applied himself superbly and was really involved in the defensive effort tonight. However, Andersen was the one wobbling tonight - he was skittish in more than a few moments, outfoxed by Palmer and outmuscled by Delap, and needed to be a stronger figure at the back. And as a team, Fulham needed more composure from the set-pieces; the abundance of corners swung perilously close to the goal basically gifted Chelsea an easy route to success, and has already cost us points across the season.

However, the substitutes were excellent tonight, and ensured it did not cost us in the long run. Kevin was a livewire, causing havoc for Gusto and Acheampong - the first goal is surely on its way! When Sessegnon arrived Chelsea’s right flank was blown to pieces, demonstrating what we can offer when we have a fully-fit squad at our disposal. Lukic helped get us back on the ball, keeping Chelsea out at a point they might have gone on to steal the game entirely from us in - with Cairney’s legs tiring, and Iwobi still at AFCON, he will be vital in the upcoming matches. Reed and Traore, whatever people say about them, work hard for the team - they made defensive interventions and ball carries that ate time out of the game and saw us through to the victory. It bodes well for the rest of the campaign.

Challenges for Rosenior

Our neighbours are in far less healthy a place, and are actually only ahead of us by goal difference now! Hyperbole, of course, to suggest we are now on the level of a Champions League team, but it does suggest things are not quite so rosy at Stamford Bridge. Their win over us earlier in the season relied on some fortuitous refereeing, and despite Fulham having another goal chalked off for them today they couldn’t manage to keep us away from the victory.

Part of their problem is their temperament - the players are extremely talented, but young, impulsive and volatile. Cucurella’s foul was staggeringly unprofessional for a left-back of his calibre, the furore after the goal would have seen some referees dismiss further players (my mind stretches back to Mitrovic’s red card at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, or a more recent Paqueta dismissal for West Ham) and beyond this petulance from Caicedo seems to undermine his obvious world class talents from being realised for his team. Is it any wonder Maresca couldn’t deliver a consistent quality of football before he got sacked?

There’s a few other issues too. Sanchez is a flimsy goalkeeper with poor distribution and doesn’t command his defence. Said defence are lightweight - Tosin, as we remember from our time at Fulham, needs a cool head alongside him to keep him in check, which Chalobah doesn’t fit. Both let Jimenez, hardly an unstoppable physical force, have the time in the box to piece Fulham moves together. It’s harsh to single out the midfielders and forwards given the dismissal, but they aren’t the most fluid either - Enzo as a 10 is curious, and feels unwieldy given the other options the club have, and whilst Delap struck his goal and did good work with his muscle, his quality as a forward is questionable, and the chances he missed feel indicative of the work he still needs to do.

However, the club are packed with talent, and are a threat for any side to try and face - as Manchester City found out last week! There was plenty from Neto, Palmer, Enzo and James across the game - they’re a top side, and Fulham should be immensely proud of their win tonight. We’re in touching distance of the European places, which felt a pipe-dream a few months ago - it’s hard to believe the mood was so despondent that relegation was being fretted about! Given the injuries, absences and lack of transfer activity, Marco and the team have done an incredible job - let’s hope that the good vibes continue in the cup this weekend, where hopefully the squad can be rotated a little for Middlesbrough.