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Fulham 0-1 Chelsea
by Kaleem Aftab
at Craven Cottage
A SECOND-HALF Mason Mount strike helped Chelsea beat 10-man Fulham on Saturday, hailed by Frank Lampard as a “small step” to improving his side’s form.
Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson’s needless flying challenge on Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta gave referee Peter Bankes little choice but to produce a red card just before the stroke of half time. Until that moment, Robinson was one of the game’s star performers.
Before that point it had been a fairly even game, with Mount hitting the bar for the visitors and Ivan Cavaleiro missing what seemed a certain chance to break the deadlock.
But Chelsea pried and tried to find a way in the second half as Fulham parked the bus. And just as it seemed that Lampard’s side might never find a way through, Mount found the net in the 78th minute — squeezing the ball between Ola Aina and Tosin Adarabioyo.
It was a big win for Chelsea, whose recent poor run of form has raised question marks over Lampard’s position. He benched his big summer signings Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, in addition to Callum Hudson-Odoi — in hope of sparking the fire missing from a side which had won only one of its previous six.
“Considering our recent league form, we needed a win,” said Lampard. “Players started well in the first half and then against 10 men the challenge was, can we take advantage of this situation and force an opening.
“It wasn’t easy. It was fitting Mason scored as he was the outstanding player. It’s a small step today that we have to take forward to upcoming games.”
The win lifted Chelsea to seventh in the table but kept Fulham in the bottom three, four points adrift. The massive improvement in the latter’s form in recent weeks needs to start turning into wins if they are to catch the teams above them.
Despite the defeat, manager Scott Parker was proud of how his players handled the Robinson red card.
“I thought we defended heroically,” said Parker. “Fifteen minutes before the sending off we were well in the ascendancy and missed a big chance with Cavaleiro, and when you’re us, really those chances against these sort of teams really need to go in and the sending-off changes the game, obviously.”
