Chelsea v Fulham | Saturday 1st May 2021 | 5.30pm | Stamford Bridge | #CHEFUL
The opposition
- Chelsea could yet end the season with a Cup double, having secured an impressive 1-1 draw away to Real Madrid in the First Leg of their Champions League Semi-Final, while also having the FA Cup Final with Leicester City to look forward to.
- They host Real for the Second Leg next week, but any thoughts of Thomas Tuchel playing a weakened side on Saturday should not be entertained, with the battle for the top-four likely to go to the wire.
- Since Tuchel’s arrival, the Blues have proven a tough nut to crack, keeping clean sheets in 16 of his 22 games in charge. Though they did ship five in one of those, when West Bromwich Albion stunned them at the Bridge a month ago.
Chelsea team news
Mateo Kovacic has missed the last five outings with a muscle strain and remains sidelined, while Antonio Rudiger also misses out after picking up a injury in midweek..
Fulham team news
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is ineligible to face his parent club, while Terence Kongolo will not feature again this season. Tom Cairney is making good progress, but Scott Parker expects the SW6 derby to come too soon for the midfielder. Kenny Tete returns to contention after missing the Arsenal match with Covid.
Social media boycott
Fans are reminded that there will be no coverage of the match on any of our social channels. Team news, commentary and reaction can be found on fulhamfc.com or the App.
Coverage
The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, while commentary from Gentleman Jim and Jamie Reid is available for FFCtv subscribers.
Player insight
Antonee Robinson doesn’t think Chelsea will have an eye on their upcoming Second Leg clash with Real Madrid when they host Fulham on Saturday.
They will be keen to cement their Champions League berth next season through their league standing, but with West Ham United just three points behind them in fifth, there’s still all to play for.
“It doesn’t matter which team they put up against us, it’s going to be a quality team and we’re going to have to deal with it the same way we have dealt with other quality teams this year,” Robinson told FFCtv.
“The belief has to be that we go into every game like it’s a cup final. We need wins, the thing that matters now is points. We’re going to have to dig in and get everything we can out of every game.”
Form
Chelsea: LWDWD
Fulham: LLLLD
Pre-match quotes
“Our focus this week has been to try and win the game. The challenge is that we’re going to have to win near on all of them. Can we do it? I still think we can.”
Scott Parker
Fulham Head Coach
“Fulham is a chance to keep our advantage in the league, nothing else. We need to prove to ourselves we can fully concentrate on one match and put in maximum effort.”
Thomas Tuchel
Chelsea Head Coach
