While most Chelsea eyes were turned towards the Highbury area, there was work to do for the second string as their season reaches its conclusion this week. A rearranged fixture on Wednesday afternoon follows tonight’s game which was used by both sides to give first team squad members some match action.
Mikael Forssell continued his rehabilitation, this time playing 45 minutes while Jarosik, cup-tied in the Champions League, finished the game. Sebastian Kneissl also returned from injury to make a powerful looking forward line.
Fulham gave games to two of their recently injured players, Papa Bouba Diop and Ian Pearce.
After ten minutes of play with little goalmouth action, there looked to be no immediate threat when Fulham’s Christopher James tried his luck from over 40 yards but the well-struck shot dipped and thumped off the Chelsea crossbar. A corner was given so the back-peddling Lenny Pidgeley must have made a faint contact.
Chelsea’s first attempt followed soon after. Hollands long ball found Forssell in space on the right but his angled drive flew wide of the far post.
Anthony Grant was booked midway through the half for a late lunge on former Chelsea trainee Pearce, playing up front for Fulham rather than his more usual centre-back position. Steven Watt followed into the book soon after for a studs-up challenge on Fulham’s Michael Timlin.
Kneissl’s return just five weeks after an ankle operation was a short lived one. He looked to be struggling before he was withdrawn with 30 minutes gone, Filipe Morais the replacement.
Ten minutes from the break Forssell moved onto a Jarosik ball and shot low and hard, Adam Watts clearing off the line with his keeper looking beaten.
Just before the break it was Chelsea’s turn to brush the woodwork with a shot out of nothing. The ball found Sam Tillen in an advanced position on the left, his curling effort skimming the top of the crossbar.
From that escape Fulham went straight down the other end and scored, Lee Hall stooping low to head in. Diop showed quality in the build up, the cross from Alex Lawless coming in from the right.
At the start of the second-half Chelsea introduced Danny Woodards for Forssell. This time there was no suggestion of an injury problem.
A lively break by Chelsea soon after the restart saw Hollands slide in on Dean Smith’s cross, the ball deflected wide. Then Hollands, scorer of a lovely chipped goal in last week’s game, had a great chance to equalise on the hour after good work from Watt put him clean through. Batista in the Fulham goal produced a flashy save to keep out the shot.
With 20 minutes to go Chelsea finally did find the net. The ball was played into Jarosik in a central area by Filipe Morais, Oliveira’s dummy creating space. Although heavily policed, Jarosik found a gap to shot, the ball deflecting of Rehman into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Oliveira could have given Chelsea the lead after Nuno Morais’ punt had caused complete pandemonium in the Fulham defence but he lobbed the ball wide of an unguarded net. There was a scare for Chelsea when Watts hooked a badly dealt-with corner wide and when Woodards opened up the Fulham defence again, Jarosik missed the target from a tight angle with Chelsea players well-placed in the centre.
Pidgeley had to get down low to keep out a shot from impressive substitute Stuart Noble as the clock ticked onto 90 minutes but a goal for either side at that stage would not have reflected a well-balanced game.
Chelsea:
Lenny Pidgeley; Dean Smith, Nuno Morais, Steven Watt, Sam Tillen; Jiri Jarosik, Anthony Grant, Danny Hollands; Filipe Oliveira, Mikael Forssell (Danny Woodards 45), Sebastian Kneissl (Filipe Morais 30).
Fulham:
Ricardo Batista, Alex Lawless, Adam Green, Adam Watts, Zesh Rehman, Papa Bouba Diop (Stuart Noble 45), Christopher James, Kazeem Kareem, Ian Pearce, Michael Timlin, Lee Hall.