Fulham 1-2 Chelsea: Match report & 3 talking points from late Blues turnaround

FROM CRAVEN COTTAGE - A pair of goals in the final six minutes consigned Fulham to a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea in front of a stunned and deflated home crowd on Easter Sunday.

Alex Iwobi's early opener afforded the hosts a deserved lead which they held until Tyrique George's snapshot in the 84th minute. Pedro Neto ensured that the Blues took all three points with them back down the Fulham Road with a sumptuous hit from the top of the box.

Victory lifts Chelsea into the top five, nudging Nottingham Forest out of the Champions League places before they travel to Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night.

How the game unfolded

Fulham have laboured under an inferiority complex for decades when it comes to their west London neighbours. While the white half of west London have never won a major trophy, their blue counterparts have lifted every available piece of silverware this century.

Yet, after ending a 45-year wait for a win at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day, there was the growing sense that the Cottagers could complete their first-ever league double over Chelsea. That made defeat - in such a concussive circumstances - all the more bitter.

Andreas Pereira had the ball in Chelsea's net inside the opening three minutes only to be denied by a rightfully raised offside flag. There was no chalking off Alex Iwobi's opener after 20 minutes. Ryan Sessegnon spotted a dawdling Reece James, robbing the Chelsea captain of the ball and teeing up his opposite winger for a crisp finish into the bottom corner.

Chelsea had arguably their strongest XI and a fleet of substitutions offering options across the pitch. Even the scarcely spotted Romeo Lavia had crept out of the club's treatment room long enough to make the bench at Craven Cottage. Fulham, by contrast, were without club-record signing Emile Smith Rowe and this season's leading scorer from open play, Rodrigo Muniz.

Substitutions would swing a game increasingly defined by fatigue. Worn out by an immense physical effort over the opening hour, Fulham gradually - if subconsciously - crept closer to their own goal. George blasted the Blues level with a blistering swivel of his hips from the D of the penalty box in what proved to be an almost mirror image of Neto's winner.

The Portuguese forward pirouetted inside Fulham's box before crashing his shot into the roof the net. Bernd Leno had barely moved by the time the ball was already whistling underneath his crossbar.

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Marco Silva's subs backfire

Chelsea were the side which had half as much time to prepare, but it was Fulham for who seemed to be waning in the closing stages. Raul Jimenez had ensured that Muniz wasn't missed, relishing every physical battle with Chelsea's two centre-backs for the best part of an hour, but had stopped challenging Levi Colwill and Trevoh Chalobah by the final throws of the game, robbing his side of a single out ball. By the time Jimenez was hooked, Fulham's lead had already evaporated.

One figure who didn't seem overworked was Sasa Lukic. Fulham's combative midfielder had snuffed Cole Palmer entirely out of the contest before he was bizarrely removed with 20 minutes left to play. His replacement, Tom Cairney, didn't win a single tackle. It's little surprise that both of Chelsea's goals came from the area on the edge of the box which Lukic had patrolled with such authority.

Reece James' derby disaster

James has cut a frustrated figure as of late. The team's defeat to a side sitting fifth in the Polish top flight didn't exactly lift anyone's spirits, but Chelsea's skipper has been awkwardly shunted into an unfamiliar midfield role during this pronounced dip in form.

Without ever actively expressing any disdain for the tactical shift, James remained pointedly neutral. "I don't decide where I play," the natural defender shrugged last month. "It's up to the manager and the rest is down to us." Sunday's derby was the first club game which saw James named as a right-back position since the first weekend of February. Yet, in reality, he spent plenty of time back in midfield.

Rather than scamper down the flank to offer Noni Madueke some much-needed support, James tucked alongside Moises Caicedo when the Blues had the ball to form the base of a box midfield behind Palmer and Fernandez. After years spent at right-back, where the whole game is in front of you, James didn't have the experience of constantly checking his wing-mirror when Sessegnon came charging into view for the game's opening goal.

Flitting around like an indecisive hummingbird, James was constantly caught between two roles and ended up fulfilling neither. In a way, there was a slice of mercy to the ignominy of his half-time substitution.

European race takes another twist

After a week spent fighting off a mutiny, Maresca can take comfort from his side's return to the top five. Forest could return to that Champions League-bound quintet with a win at Spurs on Monday, but the Blues are just one point adrift of Manchester City and two behind Newcastle United with five games remaining.

However, Chelsea have been lumbered with an unenvious run-in. Maresca's side welcome champions-elect Liverpool to Stamford Bridge, travel to Newcastle's intimidating home of St James' Park before a wildcard contest against Manchester United. The campaign concludes with what may very well prove to be a straight shootout for European qualification at Nottingham Forest's City Ground.

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