Manuel Sánchez Gómez
London, Jan 13 (EFE).- In another grotesque and unremarkable match, Chelsea won the west of the Thames duel against Fulham thanks to a goal from eleven meters by Cole Palmer, the only green shoot of the ‘Blues’ who have not yet found an identity stamp.
There are three wins in a row in the Premier League for Argentine Mauricio Pochettino’s men and a balm after the defeat in the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals against a Second Division like Middlesbrough, but the team still leaves a lot to be desired and, if not If it were due to Palmer’s genius, they could have crashed again at home this Saturday.
Because this Chelsea is so grotesque that its owner, Todd Boehly, placed seven actors in the stands who got up every ten minutes with various gestures, such as brushing their teeth or reading a book, to promote one of his production company’s films. This, behind Mauricio Pochettino’s bench, and to the surprise of everyone present, who wondered who the hell these people were.
This decision, in a Chelsea that generated practically nothing in the first half, was the best possible definition of a team in which its owner seems to be disconnected from the team’s situation.
Only a flash from Palmer, the best this season, broke that blandness. In the last minute of the first half, he filtered a ball for Raheem Sterling inside the area and Issa Diop took it to the English winger.
Chelsea, who should have played with one less from the 38th minute, when Malo Gusto was forgiven for being sent off for a bad squad, suddenly and undeservedly found themselves with a penalty to take the lead. And Palmer, who has nine goals in the Premier League, fooled Bernd Leno and caused the ‘Blue’ fans to leave with a sweet aftertaste at half-time.
It was a mirage, of course, Chelsea are far from secure and confident enough to handle this type of match and, although they were able to score, with a shot against Conor Gallagher’s post, it was Fulham that ended up squeezing Pochettino’s defense. who ended up with five men behind to defend the result.
Fortunately for him, the fouls of Willian and Andreas Pereira, as well as a shot at will by Raúl Jiménez, were not enough to overcome Djordje Petrovic, who in the absence of Robert Sánchez has already accumulated two clean sheets in the Premier.
With this victory, Chelsea moves into the top eight of the standings for the first time, with 31 points, the same as Manchester United but still eight away from the Europa League spots. Fulham remains thirteenth, with 24 points.
– Datasheet:
1 – Chelsea: Petrovic; Taste (Gilchrist, m.93), Disasi, Silva, Colwill; Fallen, Gallagher, Enzo; Palmer (Chukwuemeka, 93), Sterling (Chilwell, 77) and Broja (Madueke, 67).
0 – Fulham: Leno; Teté (Castagne, m.64), Adarabioyo, Diop, Robinson; Palhinha (Lukic, m.82), Cairney, Pereira (Muñiz, m.82); Wilson (De Cordova-Reid, m.64), Willian and Jiménez.
Goals: 1-0, W.49+: Palmer, de penalty.
Referee: Anthony Taylor. He cautioned Gusto (m.38), Enzo (m.58), Disasi (m.75). Silva (m.79) and Palmer (m.80) for Chelsea and Wilson (m.49) for Fulham.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the twenty-first day of the Premier League played at the Stamford Bridge stadium in front of 40,341 spectators. EFE
msg/jap
2024-01-14 02:48:16
#Chelsea #survives #Palmer
