The Blues host Fulham in this match.
Chelsea
Lining up in 4231, defenders T. Silva, Disasi, Gusto, Colwill, backs Caicedo, Enzo Fernández, attacking midfielder Gallagher, wings Sterling, Palmer, striker Broja.
Fulham are also in the same 4231, with Adarabioyo, Diop, Tete, Robinson at the back, Palhinha, Cairney at the back, Pereira at attacking midfielder, Wilson, Willian on the wings, and Jiménez up front.
Chelsea
It's back to normal, Enzo Fernández and Caicedo are back in the team, Jackson is playing in the African Cup of Nations, so Broja is replacing him, the midfield has not been affected by the African Cup of Nations.
Chelsea
Playing at home looked positive, while Fulham backed off a bit at the start, wanting to see what happens first, they didn't go in for the pressure
Chelsea
A ball out of the backfield. The result.
Chelsea
Immediately began to push forward, it was clear that Caicedo was good, stable on the ball, without too much pressure and without committing fouls, Enzo Fernández was able to press forward as long as Caicedo was able to hold his back, which at the same time could lead to Palmer's free running, which was maintained for the first 20 minutes of the first half. This was maintained for the first 20 minutes of the first half.
Chelsea
The forward passes are also much faster, which makes Fulham less likely to tackle
Chelsea
Compare that to pushing to the edge of the penalty area on both flanks and then passing directly into the box, the whole pass from midfield to both sides of the field is quite fast and should have slightly avoided Palhinha's defense, which is also to not be intercepted by him, the king of midfield breaks.
Chelsea
In the first 20 minutes there were a lot of crosses into the box, which forced the Fulham defense to drop back, and the backs didn't know whether or not to pull back so deep, which even resulted in two or three chances for both Palmer and Enzo Fernández to press into the box and get a clearing shot.
Chelsea
It's pretty well done.
Fulham didn't start to press forward until after 30 minutes, but it was basically quite simple, still relying on Willian and Robinson's Overlap on the left to push the crosses forward, but there weren't quite enough followers to follow it up, and the
Chelsea
Counterattacking down the right was quite quick and Fulham's side had to defend all the way back to the depths not being able to counterattack easily
Before the end of the first half, Palmer took the ball on the right flank and started to move across the field to find someone, he directly passed through the defense into the box, Sterling stepped in to get the ball and was already going to shoot, then Diop had no choice but to kick out to try to sweep the ball, but Sterling was more nimble than him and didn't allow him to touch the ball, and then it turned into a touching of Sterling's foot turned into a foul called on the 12-yard penalty kick, which was scored by Palmer. Palmer punted.
Chelsea
lead 1-0
The situation continued after the start of the second half.
Chelsea
Attacking quite aggressively, Enzo Fernández was free to keep going forward when he could
Chelsea
The distribution of the ball was good and the wings came alive, Gusto had an attacking pass up the right and almost grabbed it, Fulham looked passive and had to replace Wilson and Tete with Cordova-Reid and Castagne in the 64th minute.
Chelsea
Broja was then replaced by the breakout Madueke, with the intention of counter-attacking the space left in the backfield by Fulham's attack.
afterwards
Chelsea
On offense would play Palmer up front, and his final pass up front was actually good enough to not only hold the ball steady in the box, but also release it, which allowed the
Chelsea
There were a couple of threatening passes when they got into the opposition box, and after Fulham strengthened their attack there were some good counter-attacks as well.
Chelsea
The defense was actually a bit porous, especially when Fulham allowed Willian to drive upfield and then ground the ball to the center or far post, where Fulham players often had space to stop the ball or even shoot after following up.
Chelsea
The midfield's protection of the defense is relatively loose, and when the defender must retreat to the end, the space in front of him is still not protected by the midfield.
