Not even £105m can buy a goal for Chelsea

Boehly watches January signings blow it as neighbours Fulham hold firm

MonEY can do a lot of things but does it not always guarantee Premier League victories. The hope was after the conclusion of their spectacular January spree, that frustrating nights like this would be a thing of the past and a Chelsea charge up the table would begin.

That was not to be, despite Chelsea having far more to throw at Fulham than they did a few weeks ago.

Then, they met at Craven Cottage on a chastening night for Graham Potter, summed up by loanee Joao Felix making an impressive debut before it ended with him being sent off and Chelsea slumping to defeat.

In the rapid return fixture, Chelsea started with £105million British record capture Enzo Fernandez, £ 88m Mykhailo Mudryk and £35m Benoit Badiashile. Fellow new arrivals, £31m winger noni Madueke and £8m david datro Fofana then came off the bench.

none of the five featured in the first game between the two sides. But still Chelsea were unable to crack Marco Silva’s impressive Fulham.

This was not what watching co-owner Todd Boehly expected following the huge spend he sanctioned. no wonder Fulham’s travelling supporters took great delight in chanting ‘what a waste of money’ when they had the chance.

Graham Potter’s choices had already caused a stir long before kick- off, including his Champions League omission of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who was unsurprisingly also not involved against Fulham.

There was then more intrigue come the evening over which of Chelsea’s newest faces would make his team to face neighbours Fulham.

Fernandez’s work permit came through in time to start and he was handed a full debut along with Mykhailo Mudryk, following the Ukrainian winger’s encouraging cameo off the bench at Liverpool last time out.

Fit-again Reece James felt like a new signing too, and the sight of him back in the side, as well as Ben Chilwell on the bench after injuries that have been so damaging, were just as pleasing.

Hakim ziyech was also starting despite being on the brink of a move to Paris Saint-Germain on deadline day which he was unhappy to see collapse.

Stamford Bridge was expectant and Fernandez, at the base of Chelsea’s midfield, certainly did not disappoint.

He displayed a freakish knack for being in the right place at the right time when the ball ran loose, was keen to put his foot in, rarely losing any of the many challenges he went into, took responsibility for getting Chelsea going and passed impressively, both long and short and at times with real intent.

He was a contributor to a first half that had a pace to it, though few attempts on goal until Andreas Pereira unleashed a volley that Kepa Arrizabalaga flew across his goal to save.

Chelsea responded with two off-target efforts from Kai Havertz, who was not having the sort of convincing night required after being among the attackers to get the nod over Aubameyang.

Having misfired with his first two attempts, Havertz was unlucky with his third, latching onto a delightful ball over the top from ziyech but lobbing against the post.

Mudryk was having nowhere near the impact he did at Anfield. never mind. Chelsea had another big-money signing to chuck on. noni Madueke came on in his place for the second half.

At first, though, it was a former Blues

winger who was a bigger concern when Willian drove towards the corner of the box and fired back across goal, forcing Kepa into a save. Fulham were giving as good as they got. That should not have been a surprise with the table confirming them as currently the best team in west london.

The confidence they played with at the home of their wealthy neighbours was befitting of that status. It was summed up by an audacious trick from Joao Palhinha that was not what you would expect from an enforcer and led to Pereira having a shot blocked before Palhinha joined the attack to fire over.

Chelsea were struggling to make inroads at the other end but Potter was not short of options and Raheem sterling was the latest attacking change made in the Chelsea head coach’s attempts to take control of the game.

But it was Fulham who came closest to scoring, Willian racing clear down the left and crossing for DecordovaReid whose shot was held by Kepa.

Fernandez had not been so involved in the second half but came as near as anyone in Chelsea blue to breaking the deadlock with a long-range effort that he whipped just beyond Bernd leno and his far post.

Datro Fofana was next to join Chelsea’s search for a winner and the crowd rose to their feet in anticipation as he beat leno to a ball over the top and seemed certain to score.

But Tim Ream came to Fulham’s rescue with a goal-line clearance which ensured the scores stayed level.