Fulham v Chelsea predictions: Potter's difficult spell looks set to continue

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Fulham v Chelsea in the Premier League on Thursday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 8pm Thursday

Best bet

Fulham or draw double chance
1pt 8-11 BoyleSports

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Team news

Fulham
Neeskens Kebano (Achilles) is a long-term absentee and Shane Duffy (illness) is unlikely to feature. Aleksandar Mitrovic is suspended.

Chelsea
N'Golo Kante, Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Edouard Mendy, Wesley Fofana, Armando Broja, Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are sidelined and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (back) is a doubt. Chelsea are waiting to discover whether loanee Joao Felix was registered to be eligible to make his debut.

Match preview

Graham Potter's problems increased after Chelsea's 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in the FA Cup third round and the pressure on his shoulders is set to rise with a poor result against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Fulham have a dreadful recent record against their west London rivals, losing each of the last seven fixtures, and go into this contest without 11-goal top scorer, Aleksandar Mitrovic, who serves a one-match suspension.

But the Cottagers are three points above the Blues and will fancy their chances of doubling the advantage.

Fulham's 2020-21 Premier League campaign was an abject failure featuring five wins and a club-record low of 27 goals scored. Poor recruitment was cited as a key reason for Fulham's struggles but they spent more wisely last summer and are reaping the rewards.

Mitrovic's emergence as a first-class top-flight striker has been key for the Cottagers, but the Serbian has been well-supported by strong performances across the pitch.

And a lot of credit should go to the manager, Marco Silva, who has stuck to the attacking principles which propelled Fulham to last season's Championship title success.

Fulham have conceded 27 goals, which is the same number at the same stage of their ill-fated 2020-21 top flight campaign, but their goalscoring output has risen from 15 to 30, allowing them to forget about a scrap for survival and focus on securing a top-half finish.

New signings Bernd Leno, Palhinha, Andreas Pereira and Willian have established themselves as first-team regulars and Fulham's impressive recruitment contrasts sharply with Chelsea, who have made some questionable decisions.

Among the new faces at Stamford Bridge were Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who have a proven track record in the Premier League.

But both have struggled, with Sterling scoring four goals in 15 league appearances, and Aubameyang, netting once in nine league games.

Established Chelsea attackers Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic have also struggled and Chelsea's 20-goal league tally is the lowest among top-half teams.

Faith in Chelsea's attacking players is wearing thin and efforts to address the situation continued this week with the loan acquisition of Portuguese international Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid.

Unless performances and results start to improve there will be inevitable calls for a change of course and it is no great surprise to see Potter featuring prominently in next manager to go betting.

Potter was a huge success at Ostersunds and Brighton and, given time, may be able to turn the tide at Stamford Bridge.

However, the January window is always a dangerous moment, affording clubs the chance to bring in fresh leadership and new players, and Chelsea may look to reassess after next Saturday's trip to Liverpool which precedes a 13-day break in their schedule.

Potter needs a few decent results in the meantime, but Fulham, even minus Mitrovic, are a tough opponent and look capable of taking at least a point.