Chelsea’s Top Four Hopes Dented At The Cottage

On a cold rainy Monday evening, Chelsea took on Fulham in the west London derby at Craven Cottage. With Tottenham losing at home 2-1 to Norwich, Chelsea had a chance to climb up the table and move level on points with Spurs. Torres started upfront with Kalou, while Ramires, Meireles, Lampard and Mikel were in midfield. A return for John Terry who started next to Cahill, with Betrand on the left, Ivanovic on the right.

The first half started slowly with both sides cancelling out one an others efforts. Both keepers failed to make a real save. It took 45 mins before a two footed lunge from Danny Murphy on Kalou forced a penalty. Up stepped super Franky Lampard, and with a low drive Chelsea where leading 1-0 at the break.

The second half began in a much more upbeat fashion with both sides going all out for the points. Lampard crossed in a delightful ball only for Kalou to clip the cross bar with his header. Torres was playing poorly though, failing on several occasions to find a pass.

Fulham looked dangerous on the break and attacked with real aggression. And they where rewarded for their efforts in the 82nd minute when despite a great first save from Cech the resulting corner found the un-marked Dempsey who rose to head Fulham level. Chelsea have now conceded over 20 goals in the last 10 minutes this season.

Didier Drogba was introduced to try and force the win, but Chelsea couldn’t find a second goal and the game finished 1-1. A fair result but one which leaves Chelsea’s hopes of a top-four finish in doubt.

Newcastle and Arsenal were the big winners yesterday but with five games left, there is plenty of time remaining for the Blues to snatch fourth.

Watch video highlights from the game here