10-man Chelsea slump to 2-1 defeat against Fulham

Chelsea’s Premier League fortunes under Graham Potter have begun to go from bad to worse as the struggling Blues suffered a chastening defeat against London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage on Thursday night. Kalidou Koulibaly cancelled out Willian’s early strike to level things up for Chelsea, but new signing Joao Felix received a straight red card on the hour mark before striker Carlos Vinicius scored the winning goal for Fulham in the 73rd minute. The Brazilian’s header handed Marcos Silva’s side their fourth league victory in a row, taking them six points ahead of Chelsea, who are languishing in tenth place on the table.

Graham Potter’s side headed into this fixture on the back of just one win in their last eight Premier League games, with the pressure mounting on the English manager to produce the results. However, buoyed by the arrival of new signing Joao Felix, the visitors impressed from kick-off in this London derby. The Atletico Madrid loanee was thrust into the starting line-up just 24 hours after his arrival and the Portuguese playmaker dictated the game in the opening exchanges.

Felix set up Kai Havertz for a shot after nutmegging Tim Ream and catalysed the laboured Chelsea with his movement and creativity. Fulham grew into the contest as the game wore on and struck the bar after Bobby Decordova-Reid pounced on a mistake from Trevoh Chalobah. Two minutes later, the home side took the lead as former Chelsea winger Willian found the back of the net with a low deflected effort from the edge of the box.

Chelsea responded admirably to start the second half. Mason Mount wrong-footed Bernd Leno with a free-kick aimed at the near post before Kalidou Koulibaly bundled in the rebound to level the scores at 1-1. However, just as the Blues were beginning to grow in confidence, disaster struck. Joao Felix caught Kenny Tete on his shin with an over-aggressive tackle, leaving the referee no choice but to send him off for the challenge.

Chelsea showed some promise despite having a man down, but Fulham struck the killer blow in the 73rd minute to win the game. Andrea Pereira picked out his countryman Carlos Vinicius with a superb cross at the far post, and the striker headed home to give Fulham a 2-1 victory.

With this win, Fulham celebrated their first victory over Chelsea since 2006 and now find themselves in sixth place on the table. The struggling Blues, meanwhile, continue their slippery slide under Graham Potter and are left stranded in tenth, ten points off Manchester United in the Champions League places.