Ten-man Chelsea collapse to defeat against west London rivals Fulham

Raul Jimenez celebrates after Harry Wilson gives Fulham an 81st minute lead
Raul Jimenez celebrates after Harry Wilson gives Fulham an 81st minute leadAdrian Dennis / AFP

Fulham emerged as 2-1 victors in a fiery London derby against Chelsea’s 10 men in the Premier League (PL), recording just their third win from the last 29 H2Hs against the Blues.

Key stats

- On his 12th Premier League appearance for Chelsea, Liam Delap scored his first goal for the Blues, netting for the first time in the competition since April against Wolves for Ipswich, ending his 18-game streak without a goal.

- Fulham have scored in their last 10 games in the Premier League, their longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of 15 games from 24th August 2024 to 14th December 2024.

- Harry Wilson has had a direct hand in 11 Premier League goals this season (seven goals, four assists), his outright highest total in a single campaign, while it equals his best goalscoring season in the top-flight (also seven in 2019-20).

Highlights

Analysis

Player ratings
Player ratingsFlashscore

Sander Berge was given the highest Flashscore rating of the match but Harry Wilson's winning goal earned him the Man of the Match award. 

Match momentum
Match momentumOpta by StatsPerform

Match report

Harry Wilson had the game’s first opportunity within 90 seconds of proceedings but saw his rushed shot saved by Robert Sánchez.

It didn’t take the Blues too long to start making their own mark, with Liam Rosenior watching from the stands as Enzo Fernández’s corner was awkwardly punched away by Bernd Leno.

Fulham still tried to come forward, as Wilson saw another shot saved and a Tom Cairney effort was blocked. Another Fernández corner then caused even more chaos as Andrey Santos hit the crossbar before Sander Berge blocked Moisés Caicedo’s shot on the line.

There was a major blow for the Blues after one disappointing corner, though, as Leno got the ball forward and Marc Cucurella was sent off just 22 minutes into his return from injury for pulling down Wilson after the Welshman had got behind him.

A Chelsea trio and Marco Silva were booked for dissent in the aftermath, but there was no further damage as Wilson’s free-kick and Raúl Jiménez’s follow-up were blocked.

The game’s highly competitive nature remained as the half continued, although the teams remained level going into the break as Wilson’s stoppage-time goal was ruled out due to Jiménez being offside in the build-up.

Silva showed intent by bringing Kevin on for Jorge Cuenca ahead of the restart, and the usual suspect asked a question with Wilson’s strike spinning agonisingly wide after taking a deflection off Trevoh Chalobah.

Jorrel Hato headed over from a corner at the other end, but Jiménez was far more clinical with his header moments later as the striker powered Berge’s cross into the bottom corner. Kevin then fizzed a shot into the side netting before Leno got a hand to Liam Delap’s attempted dink, held Caicedo’s venomous strike, and stopped Palmer’s effort with an outstretched boot.

Chelsea eventually equalised through Delap in the 72nd minute, as Antonnee Robinson flicked Pedro Neto’s corner onto the post and the striker responded to convert.

But not to be denied, the Cottagers were back ahead within nine minutes as Wilson picked up the ball on the edge of the box and finished despite a slight deflection off James.

Match stats
Match statsOpta by StatsPerform

That timely strike was enough to see Fulham go a sixth consecutive PL match unbeaten, climbing to eighth in the table as a result. They now trail sixth-placed Chelsea on goal difference alone, and the Blues’ misery will be compounded by being overtaken by Brentford following their fifth match in a row without tasting victory.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Harry Wilson (Fulham)

Catch-up with the match on Flashscore.