Every time Chelsea loses, there seems to be a (not-so-minor) moral crisis. But even if those are a bit exaggerated, Mauricio Pochettino is slowly coming under more pressure to not only get wins but also make our play better as expected. We’ve said this a lot over the last year and a half: we can only trust the process if it leads to something we can trust. Now more than ever, faith alone is not enough.
Not that it has anything to do with anything other than my mood and mindset, but this week has seen three of the greatest coaches in NFL history, Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, and Pete Carroll, quit their jobs. This may be the universe’s way of reminding us that in professional sports, you’re only as good as your last game and fans can change their minds (cc: Kalen DeBoer).
Anyway, calling a game a “must-win” when we’ve won five of the last seven feels a bit strong… but it also feels like a “must-win.” There is enough excitement in other places.
Chelsea team news: Ben Chilwell and Benoit Badiashile are likely to return to the team for the game (on the bench), which is good news. Carney Chukwuemeka is also very close to returning. The bad news is that Christopher Nkunku’s hip ιnjury has confused our medical team. This may not meаn much, but it does meаn that Nkunku will not play again. The news that hasn’t changed is that Robert Sánchez, Lesley Ugochukwu, Reece James, Roméo Lavia, and Wesley Fofana are also out. Also, Nicolas Jackson is at the AfCon right now, and Ian Maatsen is in Dortmund.
Chelsea has lost five of its last six games away from home, but it has won five straight games in all competitions at Stamford Bridge and has only lost once since late September. Even though it’s not a castle, every other bad dog might not be able to blоw us up as often.
News about the Fulham team: In early October, we got one of the few wins we’ve had away from home at Craven Cottage. Fulham is currently four points behind us in 13th place. Since then, they’ve won five (including against Arsenal), lost seven, and drawn one. However, they haven’t won a Premier League game away from home in nine straight games. They’re in the League Cup playoffs too, just like Chelsea. And like Chelsea, they lost the away game by one goal. They lost to the Premier League winners instead of a random Championship team in the middle of the table, which is different from Chelsea.
Willian scored Fulham’s only goal against Liverpool. Even though he’s 35 years old, Willian is still a good player at this level and is tied for the team’s top scorer with five goals in all competitions. Fulham isn’t exactly a goal-scoring machine. This will also not be helped by the fact that Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, Fodé Ballo-Touré, and the center-back Calvin Iwobi are all at the Africa Cup of Nations. All that’s hurt is Adama Traoré.
As we already said, Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja scored within two minutes of each other in that 2-0 win. Fulham hasn’t won at Stamford Bridge since 1964, which is also the only time they’ve ever won there.