Fulham 1-2 Chelsea

Fulham were defeated in the SW6 derby, as Chelsea came from behind to win 2-1 at Craven Cottage.

Following Alex Iwobi’s early goal, Fulham were in a position to claim a first ever double over our neighbours, but it was late heartbreak as Tyrique George equalised with seven minutes to play, before Pedro Neto slammed the ball home in stoppage-time.

There were two changes from Monday’s defeat at AFC Bournemouth, with Kenny Tete coming in for his first start since December, replacing Timothy Castagne, and Raúl Jiménez coming in for Rodrigo Muniz.

Tete was straight into the action, clipping a cross towards Iwobi at the back post. His shot went back in the direction it came from, but Ryan Sessegnon managed to keep the ball in play, squaring a pass to Andreas Pereira to finish from a few yards out, although Sessegnon was adjudged to have been offside earlier in the build-up.

There were a couple of early tests for Bernd Leno, although he was equal to a weak Cole Palmer shot and a dipping Reece James free-kick. The goalkeeper then had to be alert to gather the ball at Nicolas Jackon’s feet, with the striker taking a heavy touch after meeting a drilled Noni Madueke cross.

Sessegnon and Iwobi, who had linked up earlier in the game, combined to give Fulham the lead after 20 minutes. Sessegnon picked the pocket of Reece James, who had dallied in possession, before driving towards the box and feeding Iwobi, and his left-footed finish was crisp as it flew beyond Robert Sanchez.

Joachim Andersen was allowed a clear run at goal as Pereira floated a corner into the box, and if the defender had made any contact with the ball, then the lead would likely have been doubled.

Similarly, if Jackson had managed to get his toes to Neto’s whipped delivery on the half hour mark, then the scores would have been level, but the ball just evaded the stretching Chelsea striker.

The visitors came out sharper at the start of the second period, benefitting from a double switch at the break which saw Jadon Sancho and Malo Gusto introduced, with the latter seeing an ambitious shot from outside the box gathered by Leno.

His save to deny Neto a few minutes later was more testing, using his trailing leg to keep the ball out as the Chelsea winger looked to drag the ball inside the near post from eight yards out.

It was Sancho’s turn to take aim next, managing to shift the ball onto his right foot on the edge of the box, but Leno didn’t have to move to make the save.

The pressure from the away side kept coming, and it was a fine finish from substitute George which levelled the game, beating Leno from the edge of the area with pinpoint precision.

Pereira was presented with an opportunity from a free-kick, but his effort was wild, while Leno sprung to his left as Neto attempted to beat him at the near post again.

But Neto popped up in stoppage-time as he fired the ball into the roof of the net. His first touch was deft as he received the ball from Enzo Fernandez, and he volleyed powerfully beyond Leno with his second.