Cole Palmer opened the scoring for Chelsea with a fine finish in the 16th minute
The Cottagers grabbed first Premier League win at Stamford Bridge late on
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By OLIVER HOLT
Published: 11:58 EST, 26 December 2024 | Updated: 12:11 EST, 26 December 2024
English football had fixed its eyes on Stamford Bridge to salute its Man of the Year but its homage to Cole Palmer was ambushed by a stunning late fightback that gave Fulham their first win at the home of Chelsea since 1979.
Palmer scored a stunning opener that seemed, for more than 80 minutes, as though it had won the game but late goals from substitutes Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz handed Chelsea their first league defeat since October 20
This 2-1 loss, after nine games without defeat, put a massive dent in their title challenge and handed the initiative even more decisively to Arne Slot’s Liverpool side. The truth is that Chelsea look overly reliant on Palmer’s creative spark. When he did not fire in the second half, Fulham were much the better team.
Let us not deny Palmer his moment, though. It was a goal to light up the finest Boxing Day traditions. If you know how good Palmer is, how special he is, then you could see it coming even amidst the desert of caution and carelessness that had marked the first quarter of an hour.
Levi Colwill advanced with the ball inside the Fulham half and saw that Palmer had drifted into a few feet of space. Colwill played the ball into him and Palmer took it on the half-turn and set off for goal. The rest felt inevitable.
Palmer slipped past the challenge of Andreas Perreira and then evaded the challenge of Sasa Lukic as he tried in vain to dispossess him. Palmer never looked less than composed or less than sure he was about to score.
Rodrigo Muniz steered his effort into the corner of the net to earn Fulham a famous win at Chelsea
The visitors had only restored parity in the 82nd minute when Harry Wilson nodded into the net from close range
Cole Palmer's 12th Premier League goal of the season saw the Blues lead for the majority of the clash
The sizeable obstacle of Issa Diop now stood between him and the goal but Palmer was not deterred. He stroked the ball through Diop’s legs as coolly and as calmly as if he were making a short pass in training. The ball was struck so cleanly and so accurately that it rolled past Bernd Leno’s helpless dive.
‘Cole Palmer has just scored a worldie,’ the watching Paul Merson said in a television studio and Merson should know. He scored a few of them himself once upon time and now he was sharing in the excitement of the flowering of another talent.
It meant Palmer had scored 26 Premier League goals in 2024, level with Erling Haaland. His strike broke the Chelsea record for a calendar year, set by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2001. It is quite a feat for a player who has also chalked up 51 goals and assists in 51 Chelsea appearances.
Fulham were not without their chances. Raul Jiminez dragged a shot wide when he was in a good position and Calvin Bassey brought a superb save out of Robert Sanchez when he jinked into the box and drilled in a low, fierce drive that Sanchez got down to fast.
Chelsea should have doubled their lead ten minutes before half time when Enzo Fernandez curled a free kick into the box. Marc Cucurella flung himself at it but directed his header straight at Leno, who pushed it out to safety. A yard either side of him and it was a certain goal.
Leno kept Chelsea out again three minutes after the break when he produced a fine finger-tip save to deny Fernandez and midway through the half, as Fulham enjoyed a spell of superiority, the visitors should have equalised.
They broke quickly down the right through Adama Traore and when his cross found Antonee Robinson unmarked at the far post, Robinson should have taken the chance first time on the volley. Instead, he tried to control it, his first touch let him down and Sanchez blocked his shot.
But Fulham would not be denied. They were the better team for much of the second half and, in the end, Chelsea paid for what looked suspiciously like a touch of complacency when Marco Silva’s side levelled things up eight minutes from time.
Pedro Neto tried to body-check Alex Iwobi as Iwobi took the ball past him on the Fuiham left. Iwobi shrugged off the challenge and Neto collapsed to the ground theatrically, clutching his face. It always looked like a fanciful and fruitless appeal. He had simply lost a fair challenge that he had initiated.
Iwobi slipped a pass through to Robinson and the full back drifted a cross to the back post where Timothy Castagne headed it back across goal.
The Chelsea defence stood stock still and substitute Harry Wilson stole in behind them to glance in a header at point blank range that kissed the post on its way into the net.
Chelsea could not turn the tide and it was not a surprise when Fulham snatched a late winner five minutes into added timer. Sanchez hoofed an aimless clearance just beyond the half-way line but Fulham seized on the loose ball and when they broke and found Muniz at the back post, his finish was unerring.