Sunday will see three Premier League derbies taking place and Chelsea versus Fulham will be the first of the trio to kick off. The match will see recently appointed Craven Cottagers boss Claudio Ranieri go against one of the many teams that he used to manage during his long and storied career.
Ranieri was hired to take Fulham, who currently sit 20th of 20 places in the table with just eight points so far, and guide them to safety from relegation. Thus, a draw here would be a massive win for him. Let’s take a look at who will be in the first team that he faces on the pitch on Sunday when comes back to Stamford Bridge.
Although Willian hasn’t been very productive he still seems to be the choice of Maurizio Sarri over Pedro, so we’ll slot him in here. The rest of the line-up is pretty straightforward, with the Blues having had a chance to do some squad rotation and keep the starters fresh in the Thursday night drubbing of Greek side PAOK in the UEL.
The Bank Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction vs Fulham FC (4-3-3)
Forwards: Eden Hazard, Alvaro Morata, Willian
Midfielders: Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante
Defenders: Marcos Alonso, David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta
Goalkeeper: Kepa Arrizabalaga
Chelsea FC vs Fulham FC FYIs
Injury Report: go to this link
Kick-off: 12pm (BST), Sunday December 2nd, Stamford Bridge
Odds via Odds checker: Chelsea FC 1/6, Draw 7/1, Fulham 15/1
Prediction: Chelsea FC 3, Fulham 0
Feel free to post your own Chelsea and/or Fulham starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be. Enjoy the match everybody!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.