UA-Football shares its expectations from the meeting between Chelsea and Fulham in the English Championship

English Premier League. Matchday 21.

13 January. 14:30. London. Stamford Bridge

Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)

Translation: Setanta Sports

After almost two weeks with cup matches, the English Premier League returns, which has taken a short break and is ready to burst in with renewed vigour. On matchday 21, Chelsea, who recently lost to Middlesbrough, will be looking to make amends against Fulham at home.

Mudryk and company have a difficult opponent, because just 2 days ago they played a decent match at Anfield against Liverpool, and on the last day of 2023 they beat Arsenal, there is something to be afraid of.

Chelsea News

Mauricio Pochettino’s men are again in an emotional hole after three wins in a row, as they lost to Middlebsro in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals. They still have a chance to make things right at Satford Bridge, but this defeat has brought football experts back to talk about the weakness of the current Chelsea and the expediency of keeping Maurcio Pochettino at the helm of the team.

According to the media, Pochettino’s place is not yet at risk, so there is no need to worry about this, but it is still worth worrying about the team’s game. After the defeat against Wolverhampton, they had a victory over Crystal Palace and Luton, although both of those victories were as unconvincing as possible. And then there was a crushing 4-0 victory over Preston, but even there after the first half the score was not open and there were enough questions about the game of the Blues.

Will they be able to get out of such a steep emotional dive after the last defeat? This is an open question. There are enough reasons for this, but the fans do not want excuses, but a result, both the coach of the club and the players themselves understand this very well.

Fulham News

The Cottagers have had a rather uneven stretch in terms of results, but recently the game of Marco Silva’s team has improved. Even this week, they played well at Anfield, although they lost in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals.

Previously, there was a victory over Rotherham in the FA Cup and a very good match against Arsenal, in which they also won (2-1). Although on the eve of the match against the Gunners, the team was definitely not in the best mood, because they lost to Bournemouth and Burnley.

Now they have a new challenge and given the instability of Chelsea, they have every chance to surprise and even win, why not? On the other hand, the Blues’ sporting anger after their last defeat could play a role. Fulham are now almost injury-free and the team can give out good matches from time to time, they can repeat something similar at Stamford Bridge.

Standings

Face-to-face meetings

02.10.23 Premier League Fulham 0-2 Chelsea

30.07.23 KTM Chelsea 2-0 Fulham

03/02/23 Premier League Chelsea 0-0 Fulham

12.01.23 Premier League Fulham 2-1 Chelsea

01.05.21 Premier League Chelsea 2-0 Fulham

Facts & Figures

• In the last 9 matches between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge, there has been a bet on Under 2.5;
• Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in their last 6 home games against Fulham;
• Chelsea have won 9 of their last 11 matches against Fulham in all competitions.

Staffing situation, indicative compositions

A few months ago, Mauricio Pochettino would have been better off not asking questions about injuries and losses. And now nothing has changed, Chelsea’s problems with the infirmary are still enormous. Tomorrow: Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Marc Cucurella, Romeo Lavia, Robert Sanchez, Leslie Ugochukwu, Trevoh Chalobah, Benoit Badiashil, Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka and Christopher Nkunku. Nicolas Jackson also went to the Africa Cup of Nations, so we will have to do without him.

As for Fulham, the scale of losses there is much smaller, however, not everything is perfect either. Adama Traore and Tim Rome will not be able to play, they have injuries. There are also three players in the team who went to the African Cup of Nations: Kalvin Bessi, Alex Iwobi and Foday Ballo-Touré.

Chelsea, 4-2-3-1: Petrovic – Gusteau, Disasi, Silva, Colville – Caicedo, Fernandez – Palmer, Gallagher, Sterling – Broja

Fulham, 4-2-3-1: Leno – Castagne, Adarabioyo, Diop, Robinson – Palhinha, Reed – De Córdoba-Reid, Pereira, Willian – Jimenez

Match Bets and Odds

Prediction for the match between Chelsea and Fulham from UA-Football

Total Under 2.5 — 1:1. These teams do not like to score a lot of goals in head-to-head meetings, so we definitely expect not the most productive match. Given Chelsea’s problems with instability, which has been dragging on since the beginning of last season, we predict a draw against a assembled Fulham, the teams will exchange goals and that will be the end of it.

This forecast is only one of the possible scenarios, it does not guarantee a win.