Prior to this week, Chelsea had only lost two games at home, one to Manchester City on opening day and one to Fulham on Boxing Day. While not all other results have been stellar — draws against Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace come to mind, for example — by and large, we had done well in the Bridge’s “environment”.

The same cannot be said for games away, especially in the league. As it stands, it’s now 4.5 months since we last won on the road. Five of our measly total of six (6) away wins in the Premier League have come against teams currently in the bottom-six (Ipswich the one exception); the sixth was against AFC Bournemouth, a game that Enzo Maresca often brings up as an example of a lucky win (contrasting against all the supposedly unlucky draws and defeats).

If we are to finish in the top-five and qualify for the Champions League, we’re going to have find some points on our remaining travels (and also avoid dropping more points at home). The first of three away games left is against friendly neighbors Fulham, who could do the double over Chelsea for the first time ever (in the 40 seasons we’ve spent in the same divisions across the many decades).

Maresca called these six remaining games six “finals”. We’ve not won a final in some time either.

Date / Time: Sunday, April 20, 2025, 14.00 BST; 9am EDT; 6:30pm IST

Venue: Craven Cottage, SW6

Referee: Anthony Taylor (on pitch); Andy Madley (VAR)

Forecast: Overcast but not too cold

On TV: none (UK); USA, Telemundo (USA); none (India); SuperSport MaXimo 1 (NGA); elsewhere

Streaming: none (UK); NBC Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); JioCinema (India); DStv Now (NGA)

Fulham team news: Given the Premier League’s successes in various UEFA competitions this season, Fulham retain hopes of playing European football this season even if they finish eighth or ninth, which is where they sit currently. Their recent form isn’t stellar by any means, trading wins and losses with regularity since the turn of the year, but that just means they’re due for a win after losing to Bournemouth last weekend. They’ve been formidable at home especially, recently beating both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

This game is just as important for them as for us, with Marco Silva echoing Maresca’s “this is a final” cliché. And they have an almost fully fit squad, with only Reiss Nelson out long-term. Harry Wilson, who scored Fulham’s late equalizer at the Bridge (before Rodrigo Muniz’s even later winner), is set to return from an ankle injury that caused him to miss the last three months.

Chelsea team news: Our own injury situation is pretty good these days, too, with Roméo Lavia declared fit and thus only Wesley Fofana and Marc Guiu missing in action. Lavia’s workload will be managed very carefully (a la Reece James’s), so he’s unlikely to see significant playing time just yet.

Despite our improving injury situation, our results and overall play have suffered. Our attack remains anemic — two goals in six games against teams not about to be relegated from the Premier League — and while our defensive record was commendable for a hot minute, we’ve now conceded four very poor goals to two very poor teams in the past week. Cole Palmer has turned into a literal ice cube; Nicolas Jackson forgot entirely how to score; our goalkeepers are outdueling each other in howlers; and unless Moisés Caicedo performs miracles, the opposition have free rein to do whatever they want in the final third.

Maresca has tied our hopes to football being unpredictable and weird things happening that run contrary to all expectations. So I guess we must ask ourselves just one question, do we feel lucky? Well, do we?

Previously: Fulham’s win in the reverse fixture was their first win at the Bridge since 1964 and just their second win against us overall since 2006. Our win at Craven Cottage last season was powered by goals from Mykhailo Mudryk (suspended for doping) and Armando Broja (loaned out).