Fulham 1 Chelsea 2 – How important was this win? Did Maresca’s changes fix attack?

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Chelsea picked up an important three points after coming from behind to beat Fulham 2-1.

After a fairly even opening period for both west London sides, Fulham took the lead courtesy of Alex Iwobi. The former Arsenal and Everton midfielder struck from the edge of the box with his left foot, firing past Robert Sanchez to give the hosts the advantage.

Chelsea improved significantly after the half-time break. Fulham struggled to cope with the pressure from the visitors, and eventually substitute Tyrique George — with his first Premier League goal — struck from the edge of the box to level the game. And in the third minute of added time, Pedro Neto scored to give Enzo Maresca’s side three crucial points.

The Athletic’s Liam Twomey was at Craven Cottage and analyses the key talking points below.

Was this win important for Chelsea’s Champions League hopes?

Chelsea needed last weekend’s dispiriting draw at home to Ipswich Town to be a belated wake-up call ahead of a daunting Premier League run-in.

Losing at home to Legia Warsaw in midweek suggested such hopes were more than a little optimistic, and much of Sunday afternoon against Fulham provided a depressing continuation — until George and Pedro Neto spectacularly intervened to give them precious life in the race for Champions League qualification.

Pedro Neto was one of the Chelsea players most visibly attempting to pump up the away supporters for a final push at Craven Cottage after George steered in his first Premier League goal, and the Portugal international subsequently found the perfect moment to lash in only his fourth league goal of the season in injury time.

It gives the Premier League table a much healthier complexion for Maresca. Newcastle’s heavy defeat against Aston Villa opened the door for Chelsea to make up ground with a win at Fulham and from starting Sunday in seventh, they end it only two points from third.

Chelsea’s run-in remains extremely difficult and away trips to face Newcastle and Nottingham Forest look even more decisive now than they did before.

But the players celebrating wildly in front of their travelling support at Craven Cottage will not care. This win provides much-needed respite and a chance to change their trajectory.

George celebrates his equaliser (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

How did James perform at right-back?

In one sense, James’ recent re-casting as a central midfielder by Maresca has been something of a waste; it has relegated his Chelsea role to being the Moises Caicedo of the Conference League. His previous start at right-back came more than two months ago, in a 2-1 win over West Ham at Stamford Bridge.

Here, the difference in remit was relatively subtle on the surface, with James lining up at right-back but inverting into the base of midfield alongside Caicedo when Chelsea had the ball. But the defensive responsibilities differ significantly, consisting of a steady diet of frantic recovery runs that Maresca has often seemed reluctant to demand of his club captain.

There were early warning signs that Chelsea’s right side might yield attacking joy for Fulham, with visible confusion between James and Noni Madueke over who was supposed to pick up Iwobi and the overlapping Antonee Robinson. Marco Silva’s decision to switch Iwobi and Ryan Sessegnon for a stretch of the first half did not help matters.

James still had his moments on the ball. He is a wonderful passer, and one spinning switch of play found Pedro Neto and led to a dangerous free kick. But so soon after he publicly challenged his teammates to show greater urgency following Thursday’s embarrassing 2-1 home defeat against Legia Warsaw, there was a bitter irony to the origin of Fulham’s opener.

Being so meekly dispossessed by Sessegnon was a terrible look for James, but it also said so much about Chelsea’s malaise: the lack of desire to launch a quick attack, the absence of movement ahead of the ball, the apparent failure of everyone else in blue to communicate to their captain that pressure was inbound.

Maresca wasted no time in ditching his right side entirely at the interval, substituting James and Madueke for Malo Gusto and Jadon Sancho. The fit of the Cobham graduate in Maresca’s system continues to look uneasy.

James had a difficult first half against Fulham (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

How did Maresca fix Chelsea’s attack with his changes?

Chelsea’s eight Premier League away matches before facing Fulham had yielded just three goals. Watching them for the first 75 minutes at Craven Cottage made even that return feel fortunate.

Cole Palmer’s comically wayward shot from a ridiculously tight angle in the 69th minute was emblematic not only of the individual barren streak that seems to have scrambled his radar in the final third, but also of what seemed to be Chelsea’s broader attacking incoherence.

Nicolas Jackson continues to labour anonymously with shot attempts, never mind goals, increasingly hard to come by. Pedro Neto on the left accomplishes nothing, while Madueke always seems to exist in his own isolated decision space on the right. Sometimes his darts to the byline create danger, but when they do, it feels like a bug, not a feature, of the system.

Chelsea looked more balanced with Sancho on the left and Pedro Neto on the right after the break. The introduction of George — a winger by trade that Maresca has not always appeared enthused by — for Jackson up front in the 78th minute felt like a desperate move. It worked, and the 19-year-old’s excellent, confident finish for the equaliser is another important milestone on his encouraging progress this season.

It felt like more would be needed to give Chelsea any hope of qualifying for the Champions League next season. And it was Pedro Neto who provided a winner, firing home with his left in added time to secure three very important points.

Jackson is struggling for shots, nevermind goals (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

What did Maresca say?

We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.

What next for Chelsea?

Saturday, April 26: Everton (Home), Premier League, 12.30pm UK, 7.30am ET

(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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