Match Preview
Chelsea v Fulham
Premiership Match Day 03 25/26 at Stamford Bridge
Saturday 30th August 2025 KO: 12:30
Referee:
Robert Jones (Wirral)
Live on TNT Sports
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Fulham pop up the road to face local rivals Chelsea in Saturday's early Premier League kickoff.
In their last Premiership game The Cottagers played out their second successive 1-1 draw, this time at home to Manchester United while The Blues roared to a 5-1 demolition of West Ham United in gameweek two after going a goal behind.
Fulham are putting an unbeaten 2025-26 record on the line, Fulham ought to have felt that justice was served in Sunday's showdown with Man United, who controversially took the lead through a Rodrigo Muniz own goal after Leny Yoro appeared to commit a blatant two-handed push from the corner.
The Craven Cottage faithful had already been aggrieved by the awarding of a first-half penalty for Calvin Bassey pulling down Mason Mount, but Bruno Fernandes's wild miss proved costly for Man United, as super sub Emile Smith Rowe levelled matters with his first touch.
It was not quite Brighton & Hove Albion levels of drama - where Marco Silva's men equalised right at the death - but Fulham were more than worthy for their share of the spoils and gave the Red Devils several further scares, most notably from corners as they sought to expose Altay Bayindir's frailties time and time again.
Carrying that momentum forward into the EFL Cup, Fulham eased to a 2-0 second-round win over Bristol City in midweek - thus earning a third-round date with Cambridge United - but the less said about their defensive record on the road the better.
Indeed, Silva's side have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last nine Premier League games away from home, and while they did stun Chelsea 2-1 in this exact fixture on Boxing Day last year, they have never claimed back-to-back wins at Stamford Bridge.
For about 20 minutes on the evening of August 22, doom and gloom reared its ugly head for Chelsea, who lost Cole Palmer to a pre-game injury before kickoff against West Ham and then fell behind to a Lucas Paqueta special shortly after the first whistle blew.
However, the London Stadium was soon silenced by a ruthless Blues turnaround, triggered by Joao Pedro's first Premier League goal for the club before Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah all got in on the act in front of a forlorn Graham Potter.
An evening that started with dejection ended in unbridled delight for the Chelsea faithful, who also witnessed a history-making moment from teenage winger Estevao Willian, who at 18 years and 120 days became the youngest player to claim a Premier League assist for the Blues when he squared for Fernandez to tap home.
Including their successful Club World Cup run, Maresca's men have now claimed an eye-catching 10 victories from their last 12 matches in all tournaments, and their feats at West Ham meant that the memories of their blunt attacking display versus Crystal Palace were quickly banished.
Furthermore, not since the 2002-03 season have Chelsea failed to win both of their first two home games of a Premier League season, and they have never failed to score in their first two home games of the campaign in the Premier League era, last suffering that fate in 1986.
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Fulham won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, ending a 21-game winless streak away to Chelsea in all competitions. They’ve never won consecutive visits to Stamford Bridge in their history.
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Chelsea have lost just 8.3% of their Premier League games against Fulham (3/36), the joint-lowest loss rate one side has against another with a minimum of 20 meetings (Man Utd also 8.3% vs Aston Villa).
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Fulham have won four of their last eight away Premier League London derbies (D2 L2), as many as in their previous 68 combined (W4 D21 L43). Having beaten Brentford 3-2 in May, they are looking for consecutive away London victories for just a second time, beating Charlton and Spurs in May and August 2003.
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Fulham have drawn both of their Premier League matches so far this season – they last drew their opening three league games in 2017-18 in the Championship, while in the top-flight they’ve only done so once (2010-11).
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Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz – who notched a late winner at Stamford Bridge last season for the Cottagers – has scored six goals in his last 10 away Premier League appearances, averaging a goal every 45 minutes across those games. His equaliser at Brighton on MD1 took him to six away sub goals for them, overtaking Collins John for the most (5).
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Both Raúl Jiménez and Sander Berge could hit Premier League milestones in this game; Jiménez could be the first Mexican player to make 200 appearances in the competition, while Berge is one game away from his 100th. The last time two players hit those individual milestones in the same game for a club was August 2023, when Alexis Mac Allister (100) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (200) did so for Liverpool.
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Chelsea drew goalless with Crystal Palace in their first home Premier League match of 2025-26 and failed to win their opening two home games last season, but they haven’t done so in consecutive seasons since 2001-02 and 2002-03. Only three times previously have the Blues gone goalless in their opening two home league games in a campaign: in 1955-56, 1978-79 and 1986-87.
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For a second consecutive season, Chelsea failed to score in their opening Premier League match then hit five goals in their second game (6-2 v Wolves last season, 5-1 v West Ham this season), which was something that had happened just four times to other teams in Premier League history beforehand. Their third game last season saw them draw 1-1 at home to Crystal Palace.
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Fulham have drawn both of their Premier League matches so far this season – they last drew their opening three league games in 2017-18 in the Championship, while in the top-flight they’ve only done so once (2010-11).
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Joao Pedro has been involved in six goals in his last four games in all competitions for Chelsea (4 goals, 2 assists), with four goals in four starts for the Blues. In the Premier League era since 1992-93, only three players have scored 5+ goals in their first five starts in all competitions for them – Diego Costa in 2014 (7), Alvaro Morata in 2017 (5) and Tammy Abraham in 2019 (7).
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Source Ben Knapton at SportsMole/BBCSports