January 2021

Team news and stats ahead of Fulham vs Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday Night Football, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 5.30pm.

Team news

Fulham manager Scott Parker will be without club captain Tom Cairney for the visit of Chelsea to Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Cairney has an issue with his knee and could be joined on the sidelines by Aleksandar Mitrovic, who had a slight problem against QPR on Saturday but has since returned to training.

With the recent return of Kenny Tete, Terence Kongolo and Josh Onomah, Parker's injury list looks shorter than previously, although Mario Lemina is not expected to feature with an unknown problem.

Defenders Reece James and Andreas Christensen will be back in contention for Chelsea.

James is back in training after a thigh injury, while Christensen has shaken off a knee complaint.

N'Golo Kante is set to return to training after a hamstring problem but will still miss the Fulham match through suspension.

Jones Knows prediction

Call me a hipster if you dare, but I was raving about Fulham before all the cool kids jumped on the bandwagon after their 1-1 draw with Tottenham. But like with many mainstream opinions, Scott Parker's team are in danger of becoming slightly overhyped now. Yes, they were fluid and knocked the ball around nicely at Spurs but all the big chances were created by Jose Mourinho's team, racking up an xG figure of 2.58 to Fulham's 1.08.

Now, 6/1 on a home win here is a tempter as Chelsea's record away from Stamford Bridge under Frank Lampard remains woeful for a top-four challenger and taking on Chelsea has proven a profitable angle. However, it's really difficult to see how Fulham, who have only won two of their last 16 Premier League games, will stop Lampard's side down the flanks; an area where Tottenham absolutely battered them on Wednesday night.

Ben Chilwell, Reece James, a rejuvenated Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic are dynamite on the overload and possess the quality to seriously hurt Fulham. Whoever plays centre-forward for Chelsea should get chances to feast on.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 0-2 (6/1 with Sky Bet)

Opta stats

Fulham have won just one of their 28 Premier League matches against Chelsea (D10 L17), winning 1-0 in March 2006 under Chris Coleman at Craven Cottage.

In all competitions, Chelsea have lost just one of their last 19 away matches against Fulham (W12 D6) since losing four in a row between 1975 and 1977.

Among the 373 fixtures to have been played at least 50 times in the English top-flight, the lowest win percentage by a team against an opponent is Fulham vs Chelsea (six per cent), with the Cottagers winning just three of their 50 games against the Blues.

Fulham's 1-1 draw with Spurs last time out ended a run of 13 consecutive Premier League defeats in London derbies. They last avoided defeat in back-to-back such games during a run of three wins between January-April 2013.

Chelsea have lost four of their last six Premier League games (W1 D1), as many as they had in their previous 23 in the competition (W14 D5).

Chelsea lost 1-3 against Manchester City in their first league game of 2021 - they've not started a calendar year with two consecutive league defeats since 1993, with their first defeat in that year being at home against Manchester City.

Fulham have drawn each of their last five Premier League games, as many draws as they'd had in their previous 45 top-flight matches. The Cottagers last had a longer run of consecutive league draws between December 2006-January 2007 (six).

Fulham have lost 12 of their last 14 home top-flight London derbies (W1 D1), losing the last seven in a row, a record run by a London team in the top-flight. Manager Scott Parker played in Fulham's last home top-flight London derby win against West Ham in January 2014.

Scott Parker's first match as Fulham manager was a 1-2 defeat against Chelsea in the Premier League in March 2019. With Frank Lampard in charge of the Blues for this game, this is the first top-flight meeting between the clubs with both having an English manager since December 1967 - Vic Buckingham (Fulham) and Dave Sexton (Chelsea).

Chelsea's Timo Werner has failed to score in any of his last nine league games, his longest drought in top-flight football since a run of 11 between March-September 2016. The German has played 663 minutes across these nine matches but managed just seven shots on target.