Player Ratings: Chelsea 1-2 Fulham

God, just writing out that title has given me untold joy. A first Fulham win at the Bridge in 45 years. A first Fulham goal there in 13, to the day in fact. The Whites that had travelled down the road to be in that away end sang their hearts out for the full 90 minutes and were rewarded with one of the greatest moments in Fulham history. Moments like this are so rare, savour them.

Bernd Leno

Let’s get the potential negative out of the way, I personally think a goalkeeper of Leno’s calibre will be a bit gutted that Cole Palmer has effectively managed to get a 20-yard pass lacking real vigour into his net. Beyond that, however, Bernd was superb. Made two superb saves from Cucurella (from close range) and Fernanez (from range) either side of half time to keep the deficit at the time to just one goal. Then in the last minute of normal time, a close range save from Sancho kept Fulham level going into additional time. To top it off, an unreal acrobatic save from Nkunku kept Fulham’s lead in tact as the game ticked towards 98 minutes. So many times in so many different scenarios did Leno keep Fulham in this one, his best performance this season for sure. 9.5/10 – Man of the match.

Issa Diop

Not that this is a surprise given his form recently, but Diop was comfortably the best defender in our back three/five in the first half, and solid in the second too, admittedly with less work to do. On and off the ball he oozed calm and dominance, even his biggest critic would find it hard to lay blame at his door rather than others’ for Palmer’s goal. Made a crucial interception on Nicolas Jackson to prevent the striker going through one-on-one with Leno at 1-0 towards the end of the first half. Also made a big block in second half added time to keep up Fulham’s chances of victory. Really solid run of form for the Frenchman. 8/10.

Joachim Andersen

Nice to see Joa back in the side in an unconventional back five for Fulham, saving the potential debate from ensuing over whether or not Diop deserved displacing in the Whites’ backline. Sometimes found himself drifting into the number six position in possession to help us play out of Chelsea’s dangerous high press, which was useful. Yellow card wasn’t ideal but was necessary to prevent a dangerous Chelsea counter attack after a slack Iwobi pass in the Chelsea half. Solid if not spectacular return to the side. 6.5/10.

Calvin Bassey

Despite some recent lapses in concentration in the last few weeks, Bassey was at his exuberant, enthusiastic best in this one. Shown perfectly by the confidence shown with his first half run from inside his own half, beating three Chelsea players with ease before unleashing a powerful, low strike that had Robert Sanchez panicking in the Chelsea net. Bassey frequently showed his quality on the ball and strength in physical battles with both Jackson and Neto. His tackle on the brink of half time on Cole Palmer prevented the Whites from going in at the break two goals down, a timely and potentially pivotal intervention. 8.5/10.

Timothy Castagne

Thought despite being quite quiet for most of the game, Castagne held his own really well against the threat posed by the brilliant Jadon Sancho. Timmy stayed tight to his man throughout, constantly pushing him into wide areas and crowded spaces that the England international wanted to find a way out from. Also swept up any crosses coming in from the opposite wing really well. His guided header in the closing stages was perfectly placed to find Harry Wilson to equalise, setting Fulham on their way to amazing things in added time. 7.5/10.

Andreas Pereira

I don’t want to be that guy that slates anyone when we’re on the back of such a huge high, but any fan will admit it was infuriating to see how easily Chelsea’s midfield, especially Cole Palmer, breezed past the Brazilian. It was this issue that led to Chelsea’s goal, with Pereira providing Palmer with so much space to find himself in a shooting position. We know Andreas struggles in a midfield two in terms of pulling his weight and positional discipline, but in a difficult game and an unfamiliar system like this, we needed more from him. Didn’t do much on the ball either, Cairney proved the quality and calmness we needed there when he replaced him. 5/10.

Sasa Lukic

Lukic seemed similarly weak in his challenge on Palmer for the Chelsea goal…the difference is in the way he responded to that for the rest of the game. After that moment, the Serb was a Rolls Royce in the middle, back to his early season best. The intensity of his game was so important in a game where his midfield partner struggled to cover the necessary yards or compete in midfield duels like Lukic did himself. His burst forward down the right wing to create the winning goal 95 minutes in was incredible considering the hard yards he’d put in for the game before that. 8.5/10

Antonee Robinson

Played almost as a left winger in the first half in Fulham’s adapted formation, with most of the play coming down his side. Not sure it worked perfectly, Robinson struggled to know when to go forward and when to stay further back to protect the rest of the backline, and Chelsea looked to expose those areas in the moments he was out of position. That attacking intent did however find him in a wonderful goalscoring position on the hour mark, sadly his effort was saved from five yards out. One big plus was the cross he put in to help create the equalising goal. 6/10.

Adama Traore

I feel genuine sympathy for Adama. I felt some of the criticism post Southampton was completely uncalled for, but today as he walked off when substituted, he looked completely dejected, and you can’t blame him. He’d not been passed the ball once in the first half with Fulham’s insistence on playing down the left hand side. Then, when he finally gets the ball an hour in, he puts the perfect cross in for Robinson, who should score. Just as he starts looking confident and dangerous, he gets subbed off. Sod’s law for Adama, hopefully it doesn’t effect his confidence. 6.5/10.

Alex Iwobi

Had quite a free role in the early stages due to the positions Robinson was picking up in the attacking third. Thought at times that was a tad off-putting for him, with Iwobi uncharacteristically misplacing a number of passes, a couple of which led to Chelsea being in a position to counter attack in transition, something they were able to do at pace. Played much better in the second half, including a beautiful curled effort which drifted just past the right hand post. 6/10.

Raul Jimenez

Had a couple of decent early efforts in the opening twenty minutes. One came on the edge of the box, but only went down the throat of Robert Sanchez who parried it comfortably in front of him. His more threatening effort came on the right side of the box, almost identical to the goal he scored against Arsenal, dragging this one just wide. After that, couldn’t get himself into the game too much. 6/10.

Substitutes

Harry Wilson (65’ for Traore)

What is it with this boy and his love for making vital contributions to winning West London derbies from the bench? Looked up for it as soon as he came on, volleying over the bar from range and putting himself about. His headed effort in the 90^th minute caused bedlam in the away end, who would have known what else was to come? 7/10.

Tom Cairney (73’ for Pereira)

Added something severely lacking in Pereira’s game, control and substance. He put himself into the spaces we needed our second midfielder, asking for the ball and not shying away from the challenge in front of him. Nothing spectacular came of it, but it was obvious the improvement that came from Cairney being on the pitch rather than the Brazilian he replaced. 6.5/10.

Rodrigo Muniz (73’ for Jimenez)

Had a decent headed effort saved as soon as he came on from a left-sided cross, and from there he didn’t quite have anything to go off. But then…Fulham counter, Lukic finds his way down the right hand side, pulls it across, and who else but Rodrigo Muniz to have the composure to control with one touch and finish perfectly with the other to give Fulham one of their greatest days. Love you, Rodrigo. 7/10.

Ryan Sessegnon (90+2’ for Iwobi) subbed on too late to be fairly rated.

Manager

Marco Silva

We won, so some of this may sound overly negative, but the thoughts I had 88 minutes in are still valid so I’ll air my thoughts on this one as I saw it, as I always do. I liked that he tried something different with the system. It showed he doesn’t always have to be stubborn and rigid with his formation and showed common sense with the lack of fit midfielders at our disposal. Don’t like how tactically one dimensional we were in the first half, playing only down the left. Also don’t know how Andreas played 73 minutes in the same position whilst being bypassed so easily, or why Adama came off before anyone else just as he was finding form. Equally, if we’re talking substitutes, we have to praise the fact that the two goal scorers that won Fulham the game were substitutes made by Marco himself. I think the key thing to note for the 90 plus minutes tactically was how well the back three worked in playing against an aggressive and enthusiastic Chelsea press. Overall, plenty of positives and negatives to take if we’re being fair, but the result swings this one towards an overall positive assessment of the manager. 7/10.