Tag: Fulham v Chelsea

For our opening game of the 26/27 season we welcome Chelsea to the Cottage

So, we’re off again for a new season of Premier League football, and we welcome our nearest neighbours to the Cottage for an 8 o’clock kick-off.

Having to wait until Monday for the first game is always a bit frustrating, especially when it’s the opening game of the season. Still, a result against Chelsea will make it all worthwhile, King’s goal should never have been ruled out last season!

The loss of Marco Silva has inevitably led to questions about Fulham’s prospects, with some pundits already predicting a relegation battle, and even suggesting that a bottom-three finish is a realistic possibility.

There is no denying that Álvaro Arbeloa represents a risk. His first-team managerial experience is limited, having progressed from Real Madrid’s youth and reserve sides before taking charge of the senior team. But it is equally important not to dismiss what he actually achieved in that relatively short spell. He guided Real Madrid to the Champions League quarter-finals, where they were narrowly beaten by Bayern Munich, 6–4 on aggregate, and finished second in La Liga, just six points behind champions Barcelona. 

That’s hardly the record of a manager who has demonstrated that he cannot cope with senior football. Of course, managing Real Madrid and managing Fulham are entirely different challenges, and the Premier League will test Arbeloa in ways his previous role did not. But there is a significant difference between saying that his appointment is a gamble and saying that Fulham are now favourites for relegation.

Fulham’s recruitment suggests that this is not simply a club hoping Arbeloa can keep them afloat, the arrivals of Gonzalo García and César Palacios from Real Madrid and Shea Charles from Southampton underline the youth-focused direction of the new project, while the club has also invested heavily in strengthening the squad. 

Marco deserves enormous credit for what he achieved at Fulham, replacing him was never going to be straightforward. Perhaps a more reasonable expectation is that Arbeloa needs time to prove himself rather than being written off before he has managed a competitive Premier League game. Of course a relegation battle is possible, as it is for any club undergoing significant change, but calling Fulham a certain bottom-three side seems way to premature.

It’ll be interesting to see how Álvaro Arbeloa matches up against Xabi Alonso, with both being former Real Madrid managers. Álvaro replaced Xabi for the second half of last season, so it’ll be fascinating to see how the two approach this game.

This season we’ll also be without Raúl, Harry Wilson and Issa Diop, but we do, so far, have three exciting prospects in García, Palacios and Shea Charles. Hopefully, there’ll be a few more to come before the window closes?

It’s a new season, a new chapter, and hopefully plenty more to get excited about.

with Anderson suspended and Cairney recovering from a knee operation, Tom won’t be available until October, my squad would be…

COYW’s

Games of Interest

Friday 21/08
Arsenal v Coventry

Saturday 22/08
Hull v Man Utd
Everton v Palace
Ipswich v Sunderlane
Brentford v Spurs

Sunday 23/08
Brighton v Villa
Newcastle v Liverpool

Monday 24/08
Fulham v Chelsea

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come on over to the forum and join in the conversation…
https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=3

We get to welcome Chelsea to the Cottage for a Monday evening 8 o’clock kickoff

So after a couple of good results, I think we played really well in both games and were unlucky not to score more?
This is the game that I look forward to most, even though, apart from last season, we rarely got the result we deserved we’ve always “been up” for the game.
Iwobi played really well against Luton, I was very tempted to start him rather than Willian however, giving a player a chance to play against one of their previous teams nearly always seams to give them a boost.
Hopefully Bassey’s injury isn’t too bad and he’ll be on the bench, I’ve an idea that we’ll see more of him towards the end of the season as he’ll be Tim’s “long term” replacement.
Raul, Vinicius or Muniz is a bit of a conundrum, Vinicius has scored a couple and I’m sure he’d like to repeat last season, Raul I’m sure will “come good”, hopefully once he gets a goal the flood gates will open, and Muniz is the future? there must be a reason why he wasn’t sent out on loan again?

Chelsea have their own issues, don’t laugh, having spent millions/billions on their squad they’re still struggling. I’m sure they’ll turn their league form around, I just hope it doesn’t start with this game.

Our recent record against Chelsea, apart from last season, is dreadful with only 2 wins, 13 losses and 5 draws

my team would be…

COYW’s

Games of Interest…

Saturday 30th
Bournemouth v Arsenal
Man Utd v Palace
West Ham v Sheff Utd
Spurs v Liverpool

Sunday 1st
Forest v Brentford

Monday 2nd
Fulham v Chelsea

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come on over to the forum and join in the conversation…
https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=36.0

This is our rescheduled game from the one that was cancelled when the Queen died

After the weekend’s FA Cup win against Hull, we’ve now won the last 4 games, fingers crossed for 5 on the bounce! This game is the one I looked forward to once promotion was assured last season.
If Mitro had been available I’d have been far more confident, wouldn’t this be a great game for Vinicius to show us all that he’s a “top class” striker?, if he can step up he’d become an instant fan legend. I’m sure that Willian will have a point to prove against his former employers, hopefully Bobby and Harrison will be back to top form.
Our players must be full of confidence sitting 3 places above Chelsea and having scored 10 more goals than them, unfortunately we’ve conceded 8 more than them, thats a stat we need to improve.

By their standards, Chelsea are having a dreadful run in the league, L L L W D and of course loosing 0-4 to Man City on Sunday in the cup!, they’ll be looking for, if not expecting, all 3 points! However, they have a string of players unavailable through injury including Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic, Reece James, N’Golo Kante, Wesley Fofana, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Edouard Mendy.

Our record against Chelsea is truly dreadful, 1 win, 12 losses and 4 draws, it’s about time we increased that win column!

With Mitro unavailable my team would be…

COYW’s

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come on over to the forum and join in the conversation…
https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=36.0

This is the game I’ve been looking forward to, we welcome Chelsea to the Cottage.

We may have suffered our second loss of the season against Spurs but thanks to an outstanding display by Leno and resolute defence, loosing Robinson and having to play Mbabu out of position didn’t help our cause.
Mitro proved, once again, that he is good enough the the Premier League, although most pundits just don’t acknowledge him, 6 in 6 so far!
It was good to see Willian, Carlos Vinícius and Dan James get a late run out, James looked good and quick, I think he’ll prove to be a real asset until Wilson and Solomon are fit.

Chelsea got lucky with their win against West Ham, their goalie was never fouled, more issues with VAR? Having spent £255m in the transfer window their third win of the season was far from convincing.
It’ll be interesting to see who replaces Thomas Tuchel both in the longterm and obviously for our game this weekend?

Our record against Chelsea 1 win, 13 losses and 5 draws

I’m assuming that Robinson won’t be fit therefore my team would be…

COYW’s

Games of Interest…

Saturday 10th
Fulham v Chelsea
Southampton v Brentford
Man City v Spurs

Sunday 11th
Arsenal v Everton
West Ham v Newcastle
Palace v Man Utd

Monday 12th
Leeds v Forest

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come on over to the forum and join in the conversation…
https://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?board=36.0