Fulham v Chelsea: Premier League – live

In completely unrelated news, here’s Jacob Steinberg’s piece on Chelsea:

An email!

“Good evening from a rather frustrated supporter of the longest established team in SW6,” emails Richard Hirst. I can’t quite understand why so many people (including, unfortunately, some at the Guardian) seem to be buying into the narrative that Chelsea are not a complete laughing stock but in fact have a plan, and their current predicament is largely the fault of injuries.

“Come on guys, give us a break. They’ve spent the GDP of several small countries and have been …. (expletive deleted pre-watershed) for a long time. Leicester have scored more Premier League goals than Chelsea in 2023, and they were relegated in May! Yes, they’ve had injuries, but they can still put someone like Sterling on the bench, so life ain’t too bad.

"Sod’s law says Chelsea will come good tonight and thrash Fulham, since 60 years of supporting Fulham has been an instruction in the harsh realities of life, but even if they do it still won’t alter the underlying balls up they’ve made.”

Cole Palmer starts for Chelsea. What a lovely footballer he is, although I’m still not quite used to him in a Chelsea shirt. It’s a surprise every time I see him in royal blue.

Also interesting that Cucurella comes in for his first league appearance of the season, after the Spaniard played the full 90 minutes against Brighton in the League Cup last week.

Marco Silva named six changes to his starting XI after Fulham’s 2-1 Carabao Cup third-round win against Norwich last week.

Bernd Leno replaces Marek Rodak in goal and both Antonee Robinson and Tim Ream rejoin the back four.

Andreas Pereira replaces last week’s goal scorer Alex Iwobi in midfield and Raul Jimenez is preferred over Carlos Vinicius.

Mauricio Pochettino made three changes from Chelsea’s 1-0 Carabao Cup victory over Brighton.

Thiago Silva and Conor Gallagher return to the XI and Armando Broja is picked over the suspended Nicolas Jackson.

This is Broja’s first start in nearly 11 months. He’s some player, and this season is his chance to make his mark on the starting XI. It’s just a question of if the injury has taken its toll.

Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Diop, Ream, Robinson, Reed, Joao Palhinha, Andreas Pereira, Wilson, Jimenez, Willian. Subs: Rodak, Bassey, Cairney, Ballo-Toure, Reid, Rodrigo Muniz, Iwobi, Lukic, Vinicius.

Chelsea: Sanchez, Disasi, Thiago Silva, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Gallagher, Palmer, Fernandez, Mudryk, Broja.
Subs: Sterling, Madueke, Ugochukwu, Petrovic, Maatsen, Deivid Washington, Gilchrist, Brooking, Matos.

Referee: Tim Robinson

Welcome to the Upper-Clásico. Is this the poshest derby in the world? Anyone that has done the 1.5 mile-journey in west London from Stamford Bridge to Craven Cottage – a stadium so in keeping with its surrounds with period features and charming river views – knows that this is not a typical football landscape.

But despite the two clubs not sharing the same division for much of their collective histories, this is a genuine rivalry that goes back to the very beginnings, to the point where, back in 1904, Fulham were offered the first option on the Stamford Bridge ground, their refusal prompting the owner of the freehold, a building contractor named Gus Mears, to found a club of his own: Chelsea.

If they have a shared past, the two clubs are also sharing the same present – the mid-table of the Premier League. Chelsea, in 15th, could rise above Fulham on goal difference with a win tonight to go 12th, the position they finished in last season.

It is now October. Chelsea haven’t scored a league goal since the 25 August. The goal of the month competition for September can’t have been much fun to compile.

Meanwhile …

Anyway, this should be fun. Rarely have Fulham had a bigger chance to get one over their nearest rivals. Blues fans will be hoping a bit of needle can spark their player into action. It’s been a while.

Kick-off: 8pm BST.