Enzo Maresca:

😤 𝐎𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬:

“He still has to improve things in those moments.

“Especially because if you get frustrated, you lose your focus on the game. For sure, game after game, he’s going to understand more about when they mark him man-to-man, how to move.

“We already protected him in the Conference League which is why he was not in the squad. That is why he always starts in the Premier League.

“(Wesley) Fofana was always starting in the Premier League because he didn’t play in the Conference and (Romeo) Lavia is the same. But this does not mean they are always going to play.”

🤔 𝐎𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲, 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚:

“I take the decision game by game. Goals and assists and how he is helping us. Him and Nicolas (Jackson), they are not only scoring goals but helping with how we press and our intensity.“

👀 𝐎𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐤𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐮 𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 ‘𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲’ 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

“The focus is on the Fulham game. We aren’t thinking about players who want to leave.

“If they knock on the door and they want to leave, I’m not going to say, “No, you have to stay here, 100 per cent”. If they want to leave, the best thing for everyone is that the players who aren’t happy leave.

“We like Christo and we want him here and there will always be players that are not happy and some that will ask to leave in January. I am not sure if that will be Christo’s or another player’s case. We want to keep them here because we are happy with them.”

(Via Kieran Gill - Daily Mail)

#CFC #Chelsea

IT’S MATCHDAY! 🔵

🆚 Fulham
🏆 Premier League
🕐 15:00 KO
🏟️ Stamford Bridge

Leave your score predictions in the comments!👇

Fulham have not won at Stamford Bridge since a 2-0 victory in the Second Division in 1979.

Chelsea have lost just two of the 34 Premier League encounters overall.

(BBC Sport)

Our 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 lineup for today’s match against Fulham [H] in the Premier League.

✍️ by franstanic

🤕 Reminders:

— Reece James remains unavailable due to a hamstring injury but has returned to partial team training.

— Wesley Fofana remains out due to a hamstring injury.

— Benoit Badiashile is out due to injury.

— Mykhailo Mudryk is provisionally suspended from football after a positive doping test.

— Romeo Lavia remains unavailable due to a hamstring problem but is training.

Feel free to leave your thoughts! 🔵⬇️

Cole Palmer has scored 25 Premier League goals in 2024, one behind Erling Haaland, and has equalled the Chelsea record for a calendar year, set by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2001.

Nicolas Jackson has scored 15 goals in 19 Premier League starts at Stamford Bridge. He also has 13 goal involvements in his last 12 London derby appearances, scoring 11 and assisting two.

(BBC Sport)

This is your Chelsea team today! 📝

#CFC | #CHEFUL

LET'S GO, BLUES! ✊

🔵 0-0 ⚪️ [1] #CFC | #CHEFUL

Boxing Day Blues.

#CFC | #CHEFUL

GOOOOALLL

No.20. COLE PALMER.

🔵 1-0 ⚪️ [16] #CFC | #CHEFUL

Jadon Sancho. Baller

🚨 Cole Palmer in the Prem with Chelsea:

51 G/A
51 Games

#CFC

So far, so good. 😁

#CFC | #CHEFUL

Wilson scores for Fulham.

🔵 1-1 ⚪️ [82] #CFC | #CHEFUL

Defeat for the Blues.

#CFC | #CHEFUL

𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒:

✍️ by franstanic

STARTING XI:

Sanchez - 6.5: Made some important saves. Couldn’t do much about the goals, but his distribution was below-par with unnecessary turnovers.

Gusto - 4: Caught out of position a lot of the time with Fulham enjoying space down his side.

Tosin - 6.5: Overall, solid game in terms of defending, but could perhaps have moved the ball a bit quicker.

Colwill - 5.5: Positive passing throughout the game, and claimed an assist for Palmer’s goal. But should have done better for both their goals. His defending overall needs to improve.

Cucurella - 6: Continued to be a threat in the opponent’s box with two good chances.

Fernandez - 6.5: Involved in Chelsea’s attacking play often. Nearly scored a great goal but Leno was equal to it.

Caicedo - 6.5: Strong performance overall; nothing like his usual standards but he made some good tackles and passed the ball well.

Neto - 5.5: Spent a lot of the game working off the ball and defending, but made a good cross at the end. Could have done better for Fulham’s first goal.

Palmer - 7: Brilliant solo goal, a moment of magic. Created a few opportunities with some nice touches in the game but could have scored more.

Sancho - 5: Starting to shoot more now, but too many unnecessary touches. Quiet performance overall.

Jackson - 5.5: Created opportunities and won a fair amount of fouls, but the final third was lacking.

SUBSTITUTES:

Nkunku - N/A Had a chance at the end, but needs to press better. His game lacks energy.

Thoughts? 🔵⬇️

🔵🧘🏼‍♂️ Cole Palmer: “Everyone said from the start we aren't title contenders. We are just learning”.

“It’s the first year under new coach, let us work on that”.

🗣️ Cole Palmer: "I don’t think we lost energy or intensity, like the manager said we just lost control of the game, and we turned it into a game they’re better than us at."