Blues crash at Fulham
Sunday, 19, Mar 2006 06:53
Chelsea continued to offer rival teams a chance of pipping them to a second consecutive Premiership title after suffering a disappointing 1-0 away defeat to a determined Fulham side.
The champions' day was soured even further late on after they were reduced to ten men in the closing stages before crowd trouble erupted forcing police officers to arrest pitch invaders after full-time.
Chelsea went into the fixture on the back of some disappointing performances and after just 16 minutes Fulham captain Luis Boa Morte had put his team ahead.
The Portuguese winger latched on to a through ball from the influential Steed Malbranque and despite the efforts of Paulo Ferreira, beat Petr Cech at his near post.
Prior to the game, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho had distanced himself from out-the-blue speculation linking him to a summer move to Inter Milan and his reaction to his team going down was even more surprising, hauling off wingers Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips to replace them with Didier Drogba and Damien Duff after just 25 minutes.
Despite the visitors' best efforts, Fulham defended doggedly and created the better chances, with Cech having to rush out to deny Dutch striker Collins John.
In the second half Chelsea continued to attack relentlessly, with Drogba thinking he had equalised on 58 minutes. However, even though he originally gave the goal and there was no flag from his assistant, referee Mike Dean decided to disallow the striker's effort for handball, but only after being surrounded by irate Fulham players.
The home team reduced the champions to few clear-cut chances after that, but still had Mark Crossley to thank for a good reflex save from a John Terry header in the closing minutes.
And with seconds remaining on the clock, normally even-tempered defender William Gallas clattered into Fulham striker Heidur Helguson with his elbow raised high and was rightly shown the red card.
The final whistle followed shortly after and as overjoyed home fans rushed on to the pitch to celebrate their first ever Premiership victory over their illustrious local rivals, clashes between rival supporters broke out throughout Craven Cottage.
While Fulham may be reprimanded by the Football Association for failing to control their own fans, Chris Coleman's side can celebrate their tenth home win of the season, which puts them 11 points clear of the relegation zone.
Chelsea meanwhile can look back at another below par display and with second placed Manchester United 12 points behind the Blues with a game in hand, there may well yet be a lot riding on the meeting between the two sides at Stamford Bridge on April 29th.