FULHAM v CHELSEA - NO DERBY JOY FOR NEW BOY ROY?
The South-West London rivals meet at Craven Cottage on New Years Day with Roy Hodgson taking charge of Fulham for the first time. After a surprising battling performance at Birmingham the Cottagers will start 2008 in good spirits after all it was their first point on the road since October. Avram Grant is facing a hard New Year with a mounting injury list and the departure of several key members of the squad for the African Cup of Nations.
After the Blues fortunate win over Newcastle they find themselves 6 points off the leaders so are still part of the title race. Despite a multi-million pound squad they don’t have much cover in the forward positions with Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou soon flying off to join the Ivory Coast. This is a difficult time for new boss Grant as every match is a must win game as they try to close the gap on the Arsene Wenger’s young guns. Despite the loss of several key players they will enter this derby with a record of 5 wins in their last 6 away games. They’ve also kept 5 clean-sheets in those 6 matches so they are hardly struggling.
Hodgson faces a battle to keep his side in the Premier League and with a record of 1 win since 1979 against their local rivals, don’t expect the home side to gain all 3 points here. The last 2 matches between the clubs have been drawn and this is a major possibility with Chelsea so depleted, however they should still have enough talent at their disposal to kick off a New Year title charge.
Pundit’s Pick: Blues raid the Cottage (away win)
Tags: 01/01/08, Avram Grant, Blues, Chelsea, COttagers, Fulham, Roy Hodgson
