(Football news) After defeating Chelsea at Craven Cottage earlier this season, Fulham continued their impressive form on their return to the top flight with a 0-0 draw against the Blues at Stamford Bridge. £106.8m new signing Enzo Fernandez made his debut while £88.5m Mykhailo Mudryk was substituted at half-time after a lacklustre performance. The result means that Chelsea are in ninth place in the Premier League table while Fulham are currently sixth, hoping for a place in Europe. Kai Havertz hit the post in the first half while Conor Gallagher and David Datro Fofana could not capitalise on their opportunities. 

The result was an indication that despite spending heavily in the transfer market, there is no quick fix for Graham Potter’s side despite Champions League football being a necessity after their transfer expenditures. Enzo Fernandez came close to scoring after a fine effort from range but Mykhaylo Mudryk struggled to get involved with Potter saying that the Ukraine international was suffering from a “heavy cold”.

Noni Madueke also featured in Chelsea’s attack while Raheem Sterling couldn’t make an impact in the final third. The Blues are currently nine points behind Manchester United, who have a game in hand and a place in the Champions League looks unlikely at this stage.

Chelsea made three changes from the team that drew against Liverpool with Enzo Fernandez making his debut while Mykhaylo Mudryk featured at Stamford Bridge for the first time. Fit-again Reece James featured in the starting lineup while Trevoh Chalobah was dropped to the bench and Lewis Hall missed out.

Fulham on the other hand featured the same lineup that lost to Tottenham in the Premier League with Aleksandr Mitrovic leading the line. There were a few positives for Graham Potter’s side as they managed to keep a third straight clean sheet while the return of Reece James and Ben Chilwell being a boost in what was otherwise a very disappointing result.

Speaking after the match, Chelsea boss Graham Potter said “There was a lot of positivity and good feeling from the start of the game but we didn’t do enough in terms of our attacking play to create more, which is something we need to do. Fulham defended well, they were well organised. That connection, understanding we need we lacked, which is understandable with players coming back from injury and new players. There were some positives for us, the effort and spirit was there, but as an attacking team we’d like to do more.

“I thought [Fernandez] handled himself magnificently. You can see his quality, what he’ll bring to the team. It’s not easy as he hasn’t been with us long. I’m excited for him. Mudryk has had a heavy cold all week. We thought 60 minutes would be his maximum but he felt heavy legged at half time and we’re still building him up with the break he’s had in his season. I’m confident with the potential we have, the quality in the group. What we need to do now is gel the team. There’s a lot of football to play.”

Fulham boss Marco Silva said “A proper derby. A good derby from ourselves. From the first minute the players understood the plan really well and executed it well as well. We were here to embrace the challenge and play eyes to eyes with Chelsea. We knew it would be difficult – they had more time to prepare the game.

“I told the players we had to be even better than the last game at the Cottage and they did it. The way we always tried to play forward, our reaction when we lost the ball was really good, and I think we deserved the points. In the last minutes of the game they pushed us back, a normal situation, but our organisation was really good.”

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