Preview: Chelsea vs Fulham – Prediction, Team News, Line-ups

If Fulham are to claim their first Premier League victory of the season at local rivals Chelsea, they will need to write a fresh chapter in their history.

When Marco Silva’s side last visited Stamford Bridge, late goals from substitutes Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz secured a memorable Boxing Day win. The blue corner of SW6 has traditionally been a less than happy hunting ground for Fulham, with that result ending a 21-game winless run at Chelsea for the Cottagers across all competitions.

But Fulham have never prevailed twice in succession at Stamford Bridge, and their prospects of rewriting that statistic were hardly improved by Chelsea’s 5-1 rout of West Ham last weekend. If nothing else, Enzo Maresca’s men should take to the pitch in buoyant mood.

If there is a cloud on the horizon for the home side, it hangs over the fitness of Cole Palmer, who aggravated a groin injury during the warm-up at the London Stadium and missed training in midweek. But while the absence of the talismanic midfielder for a second successive game would undoubtedly be felt, Chelsea will rightly go into the game as favourites, given the resources at their disposal.

That said, they failed to find the net a stalemate against Crystal Palace in their opening home game, and Fulham have been nothing if not resilient in securing successive draws away to Brighton and at home to Manchester United. A score draw is by no means out of the question.

Chelsea vs Fulham team news

It remains to be seen whether Maresca will risk starting Palmer, Chelsea’s top scorer last season, after last weekend’s precautionary absence. Expect the Brazilian teenager Estevao Willian to deputise for a second straight game should Palmer fail to make it.

Levi Colwill remains sidelined for the foreseeable future after undergoing surgery on a serious knee injury, while fellow defender Benoît Badiashile is not expected to return until next month. Romeo Lavia has not featured since suffering a muscle injury at the Club World Cup.

Having made wholesale changes for the midweek Carabao Cup win over Bristol City, Silva has no new injury worries at the time of writing. Influential left-back Antonee Robinson could return following a second-half cameo against Manchester United last weekend.

Chelsea vs Fulham predicted lineups

Chelsea: Robert Sanchez; Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Cucurella; Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Estevao Willian, João Pedro, Pedro Neto; Liam Delap.

Fulham: Bernd Leno; Kenny Tete, Joachim Andersen, Calvin Bassey, Antonee Robinson; Sasa Lukic, Sander Berge; Timothy Castagne, Joshua King, Alex Iwobi; Rodrigo Muniz.