Key events
NO GOAL! Chelsea 0-0 Fulham
Yep, Muniz has been penalised for a “careless” challenge on Chalobah. Poor old Marco Silva is waving his hands in disgust.
24 min: The referee is going to the monitor. Muniz turned Chalobah with a roulette and then stood on Chalobah’s foot in his follow through. He was then challenged, with the ball breaking towards Berge. Fulham aren’t having much luck with VAR right now.
It’s his first goal for Fulham, not that you’d know it from such a calm finish. It came on the break, with Berge slipping an early ball through to King. He ran from the halfway line into the area, turned back inside Tosin and drove the ball past Sanchez.
Hang on, there’s a VAR check.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Fulham (King 21)
A beautifully taken goal from the teenager Josh King gives Fulham the lead!
19 min A good spell of Fulham attacking ends with Iwobi shooting wide from distance. They’re causing Chelsea problems with what is effectively a diamond midfield: Berge, then Lukic and Iwobi, then King behind Muniz.
15 min George has gone straight up front to replace Delap.
14 min: Chelsea substitution Tyrique George replaces Liam Delap, who walks straight down the tunnel. The fact he can walk freely hopefully means it’s a strain rather than a tear.
13 min More injury problems for Chelsea. Liam Delap is down with a hamstring strain; he chased a ball forward and then pulled up suddenly.
10 min Both teams have started brightly. Fulham may be playing a back five but that shouldn’t be mistaken for a parking of the bus.
8 min The camera cuts to Chelsea’s new signing Alejandro Garnacho, who is farting around on his phone. Watch the game man!
7 min: Chance for Fulham Andersen rumbles forward to the edge of the area, plays a one-two with Castagne and flashes a shot well wide with his left foot. Nice attack, not a great finish.
6 min Cucurella’s cutback from the byline finds Delap, who smashes a shot that is well blocked by Berge on the six-yard line.
5 min Fulham try to play out from the back and lose the ball. Joao Pedro rakes a left-foot drive from 25 yards that is held to his left by Leno.
2 min Fulham have started with a back three/five, so this is their revised line-up.
Fulham (5-3-1-1) Leno; Castagne, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Lukic, Berge, Iwobi; King; Muniz.
1 min Peep peep! Chelsea kick off from right to left as we watch.
A reminder of the teams
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Joao Pedro, Neto; Delap.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Fofana, James, Hato, Essugo, Andrey Santos, George, Gittens.
Fulham (possible 4-2-3-1) Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Lukic, Berge; Castagne, King, Iwobi; Muniz.
Subs: Lecomte, Cuenca, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson, Adama, Smith Rowe, Raul.
Referee Rob Jones.
Marco Silva’s pre-match thoughts
We are ready for a very, very tough game. We had a good performance last Sunday and we did the job with eight changes in midweek.
We have our plan – it’s not for us to talk about that now, I’d prefer for us to express that on the field. We know what we want from the game.
Alejandro Garnacho, who is in the process of moving from Manchester United to Chelsea, is also at Stamford Bridge today.
Enzo Maresca’s pre-match thoughts
It’s a big game, a derby. We know how difficult a game it is from last season [when Fulham won 2-1 at Stamford Bridge] so hopefully we will be ready. We want to finish with a good feeling before the international break.
Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku have left Chelsea for Munich and Milan respectively. Jacob Steinberg has more.
Team news
Both teams are unchanged from last weekend’s Premier League games. How convenient.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Joao Pedro, Neto; Delap.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Fofana, James, Hato, Essugo, Andrey Santos, George, Gittens.
Fulham (possible 4-2-3-1) Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Lukic, Berge; Castagne, King, Iwobi; Muniz.
Subs: Lecomte, Cuenca, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson, Adama, Smith Rowe, Raul.
Referee Rob Jones
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the west London derby at Stamford Bridge. Both teams have had decent starts to the season. Chelsea were held by Crystal Palace and thrashed West Ham; Fulham came from behind to draw with Brighton and Manchester United.
It’s already been a busy day for Chelsea, who have loaned/sold Nicolas Jackson to Bayern Munich. You can read about that on our matchday live blog. This blog, this thing here, is all about the on-field action.
Kick off is at 12.30pm and we’ll have all the team news shortly.
