Chelsea vs. Fulham, Premier League: Preview, team news, how to watch
Yesterday at 11:27 AM
Boxing Day football festivities
Boxing Day fixtures are a wonderful tradition in English football, and this year we get a lovely helping of our friendly neighborhood football rivalry, as Fulham make the long, arduous 2-mile trek up to the Bridge.
Chelsea did the double over Fulham last season, but both teams have improved since then, with the Blues sitting second and the Cottagers up to ninth but just three points off fifth. This time last year, the two teams were 10th and 13th, respectively. Chelsea's improvement year-on-year has notable, but manager Marco Silva, now in his fourth season, has Fulham moving in the right direction as well.
Date / Time: Thursday, December 26, 2024, 15.00 GMT; 10am EST; 8:30pm IST
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Sam Barrott (on pitch); Paul Tierney (VAR)
Forecast: Misty
On TV: none (UK); none (USA); none (India); SuperSport Premier League (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Amazon Prime (UK); Peacock (USA); Disney+ Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Chelsea team news: Chelsea's 8-match winning streak may have ended over the weekend as we were held to a scoreless draw at Goodison, but our unbeaten run is now at twelve and a win here would keep us solidly in the title-race that must not be mentioned — and also safely ahead of Arsenal in third, and the rest of the top-four-chasing pack.
Our injury situation remains unchanged, with Reece James, Wesley Fofana, and Benoît Badiashile out until the new year (at least) and Mykhailo Mudryk suspended pending the results of the B-sample of his failed drugs test. Roméo Lavia will also miss out but it sounds like he's getting close to returning from his latest hamstring twinge.
Fulham team news: Fulham invested wisely the transfer funds they got from Bayern for João Palhinha in the summer, bringing in the likes of Emile Smith Rowe from Arsenal, Sander Berge from Burnely, and Joachim Andersen from Crystal Palace. Raúl Jiménez's return to form — on track to have his best Premier League season since his debut campaign at Wolves in 2019-20 — has also helped with their goalscoring woes of last season, though it's the defense on which their success has been built. They have lost just once in their last nine games, and have held both Liverpool and Arsenal to draws earlier this month.
They do have a couple noteworthy injury concerns however, with both Smith Rowe and Berge facing late fitness tests, and losing Reiss Nelson and Kenny Tete to long-term injuries in recent weeks. In better news for them, Andreas Pereira returns from a one-match suspension for this one.
Previously: Fulham have failed to score against us the last three times we met and they've not scored at the Bridge since Clint Dempsey (U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!) earned them a 1-1 draw in 2011. Last time out, back in January, we won 1-0 thanks to a Cole Palmer penalty.
