A highly disciplined performance from Fulham saw the Whites draw 0-0 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening.

Martin Jol’s side contained the plethora of attacking talent Chelsea had at their disposal to end our run of straight defeats.

Both sides had chances to win the game, with Aaron Hughes clearing Fernando Torres’ shot off the line, and John Arne Riise twice coming close for the visitors.

Jol made three changes from the side that lost to Stoke City at the weekend, with Hugo Rodallega, Damien Duff and Mahamadou Diarra all coming in. Mladen Petrić, Ashkan Dejagah and Chris Baird made way – with the trio starting the game on the bench.

The Whites began in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Rodallega and Duff on the left and right wings respectively, and Giorgos Karagounis sitting in the hole behind Dimitar Berbatov.

The home side started strongly and sprayed the ball around slickly, finding their first effort of the match on six minutes, although Ramires ballooned high over the bar from 25 yards out.

Fulham were keeping their shape and biding their time as they searched for an opening which eventually came on 18 minutes. Riise burst down the left before cutting back his cross which Berbatov flicked over the bar under pressure from a blue shirt.

Branislav Ivanovic put a dangerous cross into the Fulham box a minute later, though, but Philippe Senderos got a crucial head on it to prevent it dropping to Oscar. And Senderos was there again on 21 minutes to rob Ramires of possession as the Brazilian midfielder attempted to bundle his way into the penalty area.

The Blues won a free-kick on 24 minutes as Fulham attempted to clear their lines and Rodallega inadvertently handled. David Luiz stepped up to try and trouble Mark Schwarzer but his set-piece sailed harmlessly into the Shed End.

The first shot on target of the game came on the half-hour mark when Eden Hazard found Cesar Azpilicueta in space down the right. The Spanish full-back found Torres in the middle and the forward spun well but fired straight at Schwarzer. The game was beginning to open up and if anyone had got any sort of a touch on Steve Sidwell’s inswinging cross a minute later, we would have taken the lead.

Fulham faced trouble on 34 minutes when Torres took a tumble after making the slightest of contacts with Duff on the edge of the area but Chelsea made a mess of the free-kick, firing low into the shins of our two-man wall.

Petr Cech was called into action for the first time on 37 minutes when Rodallega let fly from distance. His shot was true but straight down the throat of the Czech keeper. The chance sparked Chelsea into life and we needed two last-ditch challenges in as many minutes from Diarra and Hughes to deny the home side a clear sight of goal.

Hughes got a crucial header on another Azpilicueta cross on 41 minutes after he’d been found in space after neat work by Oscar. The Spaniard was enjoying a bit too much freedom down the right flank for Fulham’s liking.

Chelsea were beginning to bombard the Fulham area with crosses and Sascha Riether was the next to stay firm when he successfully headed Torres’ cross to safety despite being under intense pressure from Hazard.

After containing our hosts at the start of the second half, we almost contributed to our own downfall when Duff conceded possession on the right wing. Oscar jinked his way into the area and was about to pull the trigger only for Diarra to appear from nowhere to rob the ball with a perfect slide tackle.

And the Whites were presented with a glorious chance to break the deadlock on 55 minutes when Karagounis found Riise who had made a lung-busting run into the area. The Norwegian, though, couldn’t get a firm contact on his shot and Cech saved comfortably.

Chelsea were next to try their luck but Ramires poked too close to Schwarzer from 10 yards out, before Karagounis fired into Cech’s arms from the edge of the area following good hold-up play from Berbatov.

Our local rivals were doing what they could to turn the screw and on 63 minutes Rafael Benitez played his first card, introducing Juan Mata to the action in place of Ryan Bertrand, while Baird came on a minute later for Diarra.

It wasn’t until the 68th minute that we saw a yellow card and the first caution was issued to Ivanovic for dissent after Oriol Romeu had hauled down Sidwell 30 yards from goal. Our number seven laid the subsequent free-kick off to Baird who fired straight at Cech. Chelsea doubled their card count three minutes later when Romeu was cautioned for scything down Berbatov.

Fulham broke on 73 minutes and Berbatov played the marauding Riether in on goal, only for the German full-back to be hauled down by Luiz, who was was booked for his troubles. Fulham were presented with a great chance from the free-kick 20 yards from goal. Kerim Frei was introduced before the set-piece could be taken – replacing Karagounis – but Berbatov’s effort hit the wall.

The Whites were enjoying their best spell of the game and came within a whisker of scoring when Riise fired goalwards after connecting with Frei’s lay-off but his effort was superbly palmed away for a corner by Cech.

Chelsea thought they’d made the breakthrough with 10 minutes remaining when Torres beat the offside trap before firing beyond Schwarzer, only for the ever-reliable Hughes to clear off the line.

The game was wide open now and Frei was making the most of his first Fulham appearance of the season as he danced beyond two blue shirts into the area before hitting the deck. The Whites fans behind the goal bellowed for a penalty but the referee waved play on.

Both sides made further changes as the game entered its final stages; Marko Marin replaced Hazard, while Petric replaced Rodallega. Right on the 90-minute mark Riether found Petric in the box with a fine cross but unfortunately the Croatian couldn’t connect as he would have liked.

Each side managed to force one corner each in stoppage time but couldn’t make them count as Fulham secured a valuable and thoroughly deserved point.