Fulham v Chelsea

Fulham won their last game 3-0 away at Bolton.
Clint Dempsey has been in great form and scored twice bringing
him 15 PL goals which is a record total for a player from Craven Cottage.

Chelsea controversially won their last game 2-1 at home against Wigan.
Both of the Blues goals were clearly off side and overall it was a below par performance from RDM's men.

Any comments or predictions for this West London derby? - This will be live on Sky with an 8pm kick off.

Aaaha London game! I love London games!

I would see Chelsea winning, with Torres on score sheet.

Peace.

I wonder if Chelsea's offside amnesty is over?

If so, I'll go for Fulham to sneak it 2-1.

Line ups

Fulham:
Schwarzer, Kelly, Hangeland, Hughes, Riise, Diarra, Murphy, Frei, Duff, Dembele, Dempsey.

Subs: Briggs,Stockdale,Etuhu,Senderos,Orlando,Kasami,Kacaniklic

Chelsea:
Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand, Meireles, Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Torres, Kalou.

Subs: Romeu, Mata, Drogba, Malouda, Bosingwa, Turnbull, Sturridge.

A win for Chelsea at Fulham tonight would take them up into 4th place and a CL position!

Aaaarrrgh that makes me feel suicidal considering how far ahead we were at one point.

Whilst the stand in Manager John Terry has improved Chelsea somewhat since AVB's departure, compared to Chelsea of recent years they do not have the aura of invincibility they used to have.

Please Fulham, step it up for this local derby - Big Martin Jol, I have always loved you - work your magic big man.

Come on Chelsea, we've just done you a favor (despite the ref's best efforts to screw us over) now do us one.
We deserve to finish in the top half....

HT

Fulham 0-1 Chelsea

Frank Lampard with a penalty just before the break

It looked like one to me so not sure why Danny Murphy was so upset about it!

Welcome to the forum Mal

We have a topic here for todays Spurs v Norwich match if you'd like to leave a comment there about this fixture.

150th for Frankie. Job well done.
Just one more & the Blues are in 4th.
Knocking for 3rd spot.

Hi, thanks, nice forum, been on a few and this one seems a lot more friendly than most.

Newcastle are confirmed 5th then. By the sounds of it Fulham deserved at least a point out of this game so I'm pleased Dempsey managed to score. I don't think Chelsea need to start worrying yet, their form has generally been pretty good - they're not on fire but they'll win quite a few of their remaining games. Spurs are stuttering and Newcastle are due a dip so it's all to play for, of course, if Arsenal fail to win on wednesday then the gaps remain small.

Result

Monday April 9th

Fulham 1 - 1 Chelsea
0-1 Lampard 45’ (pen.)
1-1 Dempsey 82'

Any comments on tonights result?

Was a draw a fair outcome in the end?

Chelsea beat Wigan with two offside goals and got a draw against Fulham with a penalty that shouldn't have been given, they've really had the refs on their side and if it weren't for such bad decisions I believe they would have lose the last two games. They've got some very tough games coming up too, but luck is with them and they're playing better.

the penalty was a bit of a strange one. i think a penalty was the right decision because Murphy jumped in with both feet, for the purposes of consistency that has to be a foul. however, supposedly Clattenburg later claimed he gave the penalty because of a trip by Kelly (according to Murphy).

either way, i do think the penalty was the correct outcome, even if it was due to another bit of Clattenburg stupidity.

regarding the rest of the game, i was impressed with Fulham. they never sat back hoping for a draw and attacked Chelsea throughout. the standout player was Frei who was a real handful and comfortably the best player on the pitch.

a well deserved draw and one that will heighten the belief of Fulham's men and, i'm sure, give Jol a few things to think about pre season.

Of course, yesterday´s penalty was the right decision. Only a fool could not have seen it.
Too bad, Chelsea looked too tired to win the game last night.
Oh well, nothing is lost.
Arsenal & Newcastle are on soon. Two wins there & the Blues are in Champions League.

Fair enough, I just felt he got the ball but you're right, things have really changed with the two footed tackle and even a soft one like that risks a penalty now. I myself wouldn't have given a penalty but I'm sure a lot of refs would.

well maybe 5-10 years ago i'd have agreed but if there is to be a stop of two footed tackles then we need consistency across the board. i'm an all or nothing kind of chap and, in keeping with modern rules, would have given a penalty.

that said, i almost want to say it wasn't a penalty just because it was awarded by Clattenburg.

Regardless, who was there then.
The penalty was awarded justifiably.
As we have seen recently, players in the box have tendency to go down easily.
Said that, it is at the discretion of the ref to call it or not.
Plenty of questionable calls were made, this season.
As I already mentioned, cameras are needed, urgently.

just one thing I like to add here.
A 10 or 15 minutes later, Frankie was mauled down in the box. No penalty was awarded, then.
That one was even more obvious, to me.

Another strange thing regarding the penalty was apparently the ref stated at half time that it wasn't given against Danny Murphy?
This would suggest it was the minimal contact with Stephen Kelly that made him blow up

I was also impressed with Kerim Frei's fearless running at the Chelsea defence, they did not know how to handle him.