AS neighbourly spats go, this London derby figured low on the Richter scale of shocks or thunder. It finished honours even but, in truth, some honours are more even than others. Fulham shrugged off their first-half fears and the concession of a goal to gain a point and the plaudits as Chelsea revealed once again a frustrating inability to concentrate fully.
On target: Chelsea's Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink opens the scoring at Craven Cottage
Chelsea have loftier ambitions than Fulham but are hampering themselves through a lack of ruthlessness. Indeed, when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's strike was cancelled out by Barry Hayles and then Slavisa Jokanovic was sent off, Chelsea could have lost. The great under-achievers are at work again.
"We have problem with concentrating all the game," agreed Claudio Ranieri, Chelsea's coach aware that such an affliction was seen against Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Tottenham. "Sometimes our concentration goes down. I don't know how to fix it. It's very difficult. We have spoken a lot about this problem of concentration."
As Chelsea's players should appreciate, this game showed how important the right mental approach is. Fulham had no reason to have begun so hesitantly; they are a decent, well-organised side with touches of flair in Louis Saha and John Collins. Steve Finnan impressed, showing all the touch and enterprise that Jean Tigana wants from his players. Luis Boa Morte also added energy when he arrived at the start of the second half.
But Chelsea should have been over the horizon, across Bishop's Park and heading back up the Fulham Road by then. Chelsea were excellent in the first half. If Hasselbaink finished the game hobbling around like a pantomime act after Rufus Brevett caught his calf, the meeting between Gianfanco Zola and the gangling Zat Knight was pure Jack and the Beanstalk.
Yet Zola refused to be dismayed by Fulham's towering centre-half and, without even resorting to crampons, competed with his usual gusto. Indeed, it was a flicked header by Zola, reacting quickest to a deflected Marcel Desailly pass, that helped to create Chelsea's goal.
Boudewijn Zenden sped down the inside-left channel, outpacing Knight who had tried to track back. Zenden's cross was low and true, arrowed to the right foot of Hasselbaink. His first touch outmanoeuvred Andy Melville, his second, a sharp left-footed strike, sent the ball racing past Edwin van der Sar. It was the least Hasselbaink deserved, having earlier struck Van der Sar's bar with a meaty volley.
Yet Fulham, to their credit, kept applying themselves, kept trying to release Hayles and Saha down the channels. When William Gallas, already cautioned for impeding Hayles, blatantly tripped Saha, a dismissal for the £6.2 million signing from Marseilles appeared inevitable. Graham Poll, to general incredulity, refused to reach for the red.
The controversy seemed to spark Fulham into life; Lee Clark forced a close-range save from Ed De Goey just before the break and Fulham were far more forceful after the interval, particularly with Boa Morte replacing the dis- appointing Bjarne Goldbaek.
"Maybe we gave Chelsea too much respect in the first half," said Collins. With Chelsea now being stretched, gaps opened and a goal duly came Fulham's way. When Lee Clark slid the ball out to the right, Finnan lifted in a left-footed cross which Saha headed against the post. Hayles clipped in the rebound.
Despite an effort from Zenden which Van der Sar blocked with his legs, Chelsea were off the pace and were deservedly reduced to 10 when the already-cautioned Jokanovic departed for throwing the ball away. Ranieri had no quibbles with Poll's decision. "In my opinion, the referee is always right," said Chelsea's coach. "Always, always."
Ranieri praised Fulham for some "champagne football" which was probably over-doing the grateful-guest routine. "Fulham are our cousins," he added. "I will be happy at the end of the season if they are below us but not down."
Source Daily Telegraph by Henry Winter