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Chelsea have announced their starting lineup for today's (December 26) Premier League encounter with Fulham. Soon after, fans seemed perplexed by Noni Madueke's absence from the squad.
The 22-year-old has been a key figure for the Blues in recent games, contributing a handful of goals and assists. However, he has been excluded from the matchday squad on Boxing Day, the reason for which is still unknown.
With league leaders Liverpool not in action until late in the evening, Enzo Maresca's side have a chance to temporarily close the gap on them to just a point with a victory over Fulham.
However, it won't be easy, as their London rivals are on a good run of form right now. Following a 1-4 drubbing at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers last month, the Cottagers have gone the next five games without a loss. They even held Arsenal and Liverpool during this run.
Chelsea themselves shared the spoils with Everton last time out in the competition. Back-to-back stalemates would see them lose ground in the title race as the Premier League season approaches its halfway mark.
But the home side have some good attacking options to call upon, as Maresca has named a strong XI, but Madueke remains absent. He's not even on the bench, and that has left fans bewildered on X.
One user by the name $Spero $Spera asked:
"What happened to madueke."
The sentiment was echoed by another X user, who tweeted:
The fact that Madueke wasn't even on the bench has puzzled more than a few:
One user called Felix speculated a possible injury for the forward:
"Madueke not on the bench. Must have got injured in his cameo vs Everton."
Signed from PSV Eindhoven in 2022, it's been his best campaign with Chelsea so far, netting five goals and three assists from 16 appearances in the league. His tally also includes a sensational hat-trick against Wolves on matchday two.
Madueke needs just one more goal to surpass his top-flight goal count from last season and set a new personal best with the club.
Chelsea haven't lost at home to Fulham since 1979
Despite Fulham's promising run in recent weeks, Chelsea will be confident of their chances coming into today's fixture at Stamford Bridge, a place they haven't lost to them in 45 years.
One has to go back to October 1979 for the last time the Cottagers pulled off a win away to the Blues, and that was a 2-0 win in League Division Two.
However, all's not doom and gloom for Fulham though. They managed to hold them to a 0-0 draw in the same fixture in February 2023, a month after beating them on home turf too.
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Edited by Ankush Das