Tonight Chelsea host Fulham in what is one of twenty London derbies this year, and should be a fascinating match between two sides who are struggling for consistency. Join us for scores and a live blog from midnight AEDT.
One minute Chelsea are swaying, then they’re bouncing back, then they’re swaying again. For a team which has built their share of recent spoils on monotonous streaks of form, this is an unusual season for this part-new, part-old Chelsea team.
They lost to Liverpool and were pronounced dead, then were the first team to win at St James Park this season and the first to beat the expensively assembled Sky Blues and suddenly were alive again.
Now, they’ve drawn with Wigan and Spurs in the space of a week, and the pundits are checking their pulse again. One minute Andre Vilas-Boas is under crippling pressure, then he’s producing legendary royal blue grit.
There is only one result which will pacify the fans this week. Anything but a win against Fulham and the defibrillator will be out.
Fulham were dreadful midweek. Yes, the champions are hitting some tidy form, but Fulham scarcely made them sweat. The tactics appeared off.
Whatever the issues are between Martin Jol and Bobby Zamora, the fact is that Zamora has worried United whenever he’s played them.
He’s a big part of the reason United have found Fulham so hard to play in recent seasons, and has bullied the far from infallible Jonny Evans each time. He saw but five minutes on Wednesday.
They will need to improve ten times to be competitive with Chelsea. They’re only safe by a couple of games, and are playing a desperate, motivated and very high quality team. This might be a big game in their season, which on Wednesday appeared liable to implode.
On another note, unfortunately I won’t be able to continue doing these live blogs after this week. If anyone would be interested in taking over, please contact The Roar here. I hope you’ve enjoyed the blogs, and I hope someone can take this idea forward.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
Well, that's it for me, that'll be my last live blog for the near future anyway. As I mentioned in the preview, if you've enjoyed the blog and reckon you could do it get in contact with the Roar administrators, they will be keen to keep Match of the Week going. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the game and the title race, but in the meantime I'll say goodnight. Thanks for following the Premier League Match of the Week on the Roar, and I hope it continues. Night all!
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
Well they had me a bit worried early on, but this turned out to be a terrific second half. Chelsea will be upset to only get a point, but their play didn't deserve a victory. Fulham were defiant, and had a moment on quality to get them the goal. Dempsey man of the match for me, Dembele the other highly commended. Big point for Fulham, big moment in the title race as Chelsea draw 1-1 for the third time in a row.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
FULL TIME AT STAMFORD BRIDGE CHELSEA 1, FULHAM 1.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
90+2 Great save by Stockdale! Powerful freekick and he flipped it over the bar. Corner cleared away. Not much time now.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
90+1' Nervous moment for Chelsea as Kasami has an effort saved. Now Torres is brought down by Dembele just outside the box on the left hand side. Huge freekick this, and it'll Drogba, always the man for the big occasion. Here he comes...
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
90' Malouda plows a shot at goal which Stockdale nervously bumbles over the by-line. The corner see Drobga's flick on easily handled and then Mata offside. There will be THREE MINUTES OF STOPPAGE TIME. It's all in now.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
88' Chelsea are marching now! The first corner is scrambled off the line after Malouda's effort, and the second corner sees a glancing header from Drogba just cleared! So close! Will they find a way? Their title hopes demand it!
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
86' Five minutes left and Chelsea are looking for ideas. But Fulham continue to clear, and seem content with a point now. Chelsea now are the only team desperate to win, and so Malouda drops a ball in towards Meireles whose header is tipped over by Stockdale! Good chance!
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
82' A bizarre moment as Mata is released into thirty metres of space and skews a half shot half cross into vacant space in the box. SUB Sa Off Kasami On.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
81' SUB Bosingwa Off, Ferreira On. That's all the changes for Chelsea.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
79' Ball in from the right to Meireles who turns and fires a shot on goal which is just wide. Looked in for a moment. Ten minutes to go and there is plenty of anxiety here now.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
77' Long ball over to Drogba is taken down superbly, but the shot is weak to Stockdale and he was on an angle. Nervous crowd now.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
75' Torres is out on the right where Sturridge had been. Hs touches so far from that position have been less than convincing.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
72' Where it was Murphy pulling the Fulham strings in the first half its Dempsey now, with support from Dembele. Free kick here for Mata from 40 yards but it misses everybody and goes out for a goal kick.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
69' Murphy's free kick is punched, and then Ruiz takes the ball down and skips around two defenders before Luiz takes it from his toe. Here comes Didier Drogba, sound the alarm. Before he does Chelsea attack with two crosses in, but the ball goes out and the change is made. Daniel Sturridge Off, Didier Drogba On. Now then, what can he do? Not often you see him and Torres together, and he's one short of 150 Chelsea goals.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
68' Vilas-Boas is chattering away on the sideline as Fulham frustrate Chelsea by knocking it around amongst themselves. Now Frei goes down under a tackle from Bosingwa who gets a YELLOW CARD. Thirty yards from goal, just left of centre.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
65' Lovely play by Chelsea as they sweep the ball from left to right. Sturridge eventually picks it up on the right and curls a lovely shot which is just tipped over by Stockdale! From the corner Terry heads it towards goal and Malouda's backheel is saved by Stockdale! That was horribly close!
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
63' Now the crowd hiss as Torres is brought down by Dembele on the edge or maybe in the box as he was about to shoot. No decision, Chelsea go forward again. Bit of desperation in the game now.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
SUB Frank Lampard Off, Florent Malouda On. Lampard doesn't look too happy, he hasn't really been a factor today.
M_Campbell23
Roar Guru
60' On the hour mark and now there's some noise in the ground. Fulham are keeping the ball well now was their small band of supporters chant 'There's only one team in Fulham!' Changes look likely, I suspect Torres may not be long for this game. Vilas-Boas needs to change something though, Dempsey has got the ball down and bent a shot straight at Cech now.