Fulham halt Chelsea’s title push after Muniz secures last-gasp comeback victory | Premier League

Perhaps there will be a debate about Fulham’s equalizer after 82 minutes of this 2-1 west London derby win for Marco Silva’s side at Stamford Bridge. Pedro Neto certainly spent a long time being tended to by the medical team after being caught by Alex Iwobi’s shoulder as he skated past him far too easily on Fulham’s left wing. Perhaps Neto might be better off trying to tackle with his feet in the future.

But there was no debating the winner, which arrived five minutes into added time, tucked in calmly by substitute Rodrigo Muniz, reward for a relentless second-half display and a moment that sent the Fulham bench jumping and writhing in a full tilt. squeeze on the sideline.

Fulham deserved the win here, just as Chelsea never really seemed to have the deeper gears or the second wind required to hang on to the lead given by Cole Palmer’s sensational first-half goal.

Defeat leaves Chelsea four points off the top of the table, having played two more games than Liverpool before the leaders host Leicester in the late game. This was never really a title challenge or a title charge, more of a title-curious stroll. Enzo Maresca keeps saying his team is not ready. Regarding the evidence here, he has a fair point.

From the start, this was pretty much two football games in one. On the one hand, the main draw, an energetic Premier League derby, the standard battle for place and small margins. Alongside this, at least in the opening hours, was a game of Palmer against the rest of the world, the periodic leaps into hyperspace as Chelsea’s No. 10 took the ball, and the day suddenly opened up to something completely different.

There’s still something Christmassy about this model of Chelsea, or at least quite Boxing Day, surrounded by shiny new plastic things, a little dazed, a little over-the-top, still figuring out what to do with four brand new Lego Death Stars in box, the legacy of Todd Boehly’s drunken Santa tour as director of football.

Here they kicked off with a straight, non-inverting back four, with Roméo Lavia absent from midfield. Fulham kept at least one of their wing-backs deep early on and the defensive line strolled cautiously around halfway. Adama Traoré started high up the right in super short sleeves, biceps rippling like ripe Ibérico hams, always looking to zip upfield away from Marc Cucurella. And they were bright early on, Traoré and Alex Iwobi busying themselves in the spaces left by Chelsea’s spells of advanced possession.

Which was perfectly fine until Palmer decided to pull up to his full height with 15 minutes gone. The goal captured exactly why Palmer is both so effective and also so unusual in modern football. There really wasn’t much to it, no obvious, predetermined route to goal when he picked up the ball 30 yards out, took a short pass from Levi Colwill and spun on the half turn. Except, well, maybe I’ll do this.

In the space of three seconds, Palmer erased three Fulham players and put the ball in the net. First he swung away from Andreas Pereira. Then he switched feet mid-stride to cut past Sasa Lukic. In the end, Palmer didn’t just shoot through Issa Diop’s leg, he placed a beautifully crafted side-foot finish through Diop’s leg, in a way that was so careful, so lovingly precise, it was almost sensual, like a loving little squeeze on the thigh.

Palmer took a few moments to amuse himself after that, turning and putting in a show pass from the touchline that hit a Fulham player, producing an outrageous little nudge in cage football sideways when he might have shot himself. Stay there. This has not been done yet.

And Fulham had chances to equalize in the first half, or rather semi-chances, moments of one-on-one defense in extremis. They had more possession and just as many shots. Chelsea didn’t have the great slack in the team here, no sense of resting on the ball, deeper gears, periods of chill. At times in the second half, the home crowd would applaud when a Chelsea player stopped, put a foot on the ball, sent a little backward, that 1-0 lead always a little anxious and uncertain.

Fulham were neat, energetic and well laid out. Chelsea played little on the break, pushed back by Fulham’s vigor in midfield, where Fernandes was smooth on the ball but was often run over. With 58 minutes gone, Traoré raced past him on the left like a man absent-mindedly vaulting a traffic cone, leaving Neto to finally drag him down.

It was a precursor to Neto’s inability to get close enough to Iwobi before the equaliser. The ball was crossed deep, headed back by Timothy Castagne and then kicked in by Harry Wilson, unmarked close to goal. From there the winner came very late; but it never really felt like a surprise.