Premier League: Fulham are No Underdogs in This West London Derby

Fulham vs Chelsea

Marco Silva’s Fulham are back home at Craven Cottage on Monday to welcome.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea. It promises to be a tasty clash to close another great weekend of Premier League footy, and one both teams will target as a victory.

Thisis a mid-table bout at this early stage of the campaign, 11^th versus 14. But three points can shift you up the table quickly, and a win for the Blues would mean they would leapfrog their hosts and they have a good record in this fixture.

But this one is finely balanced.

Both teams came through their Carabao Cup third round ties in midweek, with Fulham beating Norwich City 2-1 and Chelsea picking up a much-needed 1-0 win over high-flying Brighton.

The Premier League 2023 betting odds favour the visitors for this league clash, but I suspect it’s the home fans who will be more confident.

Talking Points

Fulham happy with home comforts

The Cottagers have played some nice football so far this season, but they have made an inconsistent start with two wins, two draws, and two defeats. In fairness, Silva’s side have had a difficult run of away games against Arsenal, Manchester City, and Crystal Palace, and they have picked up two draws and suffered a 5-1 thumping at the hands of the Sky Blues.

Fulham have won two home games on the bounce, beating Luton two weeks ago, and they also beat Tottenham Hotspur at home on penalties in the Carabao Cup.

Fulham bought well in the summer bringing in proven quality in Alex Iwobi, Adama Traore and Calvin Bassey and, while Traore is sidelined for this game, another summer recruit, Sasa Lukic, might be in for a return having recovered from a groin strain.

Silva knows he has a talented bunch of players who can beat an out-of-sorts Chelsea, but he refuses to take his illustrious neighbours lightly, saying: “Chelsea is Chelsea and no-one can underestimate them because the quality is there. They haven’t started the way they would have liked to and since Mauricio came in they are trying to get them in a position to fight for titles.”

Problems continue for Poch

Sure thing the arrival of Pochettino prompted a wave of optimism across Stamford Bridge, but it’s been anything other than easy for the former Spurs boss on his return to the capital.

Chelsea have spent £1 billion over the past year, but three league games without a goal and only one point from Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, and Aston Villa is a poor return in anybody’s books.

The Blues finally scored a goal against a much-weakened Brighton in the Carabao Cup as Nicolas Jackson’s strike gave them a crucial winning boost. That victory took a little pressure of Poch, but he will be without his star striker for this game as Jackson has managed to pick up five yellow cards already.

Pochettino has a long injury list. And while wing-back Reece James is getting nearer to a return, he too may find himself in trouble after being charged by the FA over in incident in the player’s tunnel in the aftermath of a home defeat to Aston Villa.

Surely things will start to improve for the new Chelsea manager, but if Premier League 2023 results don’t pick up over the next few weeks, they could be slipping out of the top four race before it gets going.

History

Chelsea have won 22 of the head-to-head meetings with Fulham this century, while the Cottagers have managed just two wins and 11 draws.

Though Silva’s boys picked up one of their wins last season as Willian and Carlos Vinicius scored at the Craven Cottage clash and Joao Felix was sent off for the Blues.

While the historical head-to-heads favour the visitors, there’s not much to choose between them in terms of recent form with Fulham winning three, drawing two, and losing one of the last six games, while the Blues have won three, drawn one, and lost two.

Betting Tip

At SBOTOP odds of 3.25 to win this derby the Cottagers are a nice price to make it three wins from three at home, while Chelsea are slightly odds on at odds of 1.99.

For an alternative bet, 2-3 goals is priced at 1.91, and 1-1 is the most likely scoreline at odds of 5.60. I reckon we’re in for a tasty match with no holds barred. We could see more cards for the anxious Chelsea players, but I think they will scrap their way to a draw.

 

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