Fulham 0-2 Chelsea: Drogba & Anelka Both Net In

Chelsea continued their excellent early season form with a comfortable 2-0 win over London neigbours Fulham this afternoon, to make it three wins out of three in the Premier League.

Didier Drogba scored his third of the season in the first half, before the Ivory Coast international played in his striker partner Nicolas Anelka to secure the win, and consign a lacklustre Fulham to a home defeat.

This was a match with little in the way of clear goal-scoring opportunities. Fulham are extremely well organised under Roy Hodgson, who prides his teams on being difficult to break down, while Chelsea under Carlo Ancelotti look as strong and as powerful as ever.

The Italian has been tinkering profusely with formations and personnel in order to find the right blend, and today was no different, with Michael Ballack preferred to Michael Essien in midfield, while Florent Malouda returned to replace Deco.

Fulham’s best opportunity arose in the opening exchanges of the match. Clint Dempsey, playing as an auxiliary striker today due to the absence of Andy Johnson, turned sweetly inside the area, but could only scoop his effort over the crossbar from an angle.

From that point on though, Chelsea looked comfortable, and while they were at no point their formidable best, they did enough to ensure that once they had managed to establish an advantage, they were never likely to let it slip.

Jon Obi Mikel fired in a sighter, that whizzed past Mark Schwarzer’s post before the Blues eventually secured the lead, thanks to the prolific Didier Drogba.

He strode confidently on to a through pass that split the Fulham rearguard, having kept himself just onside, before slamming the ball into the corner past Schwarzer, and giving Chelsea a deserved advantage.

In the second period, there was little more in the way of action in the final third. Ricardo Carvalho had to be vigilant to head away a long through ball as Demspey lurked behind him, while Lampard fired in a speculative effort that failed to trouble the Fulham goal.

However, Chelsea rarely looked in danger, and with 15 minutes left on the clock a slick move from Ancelotti’s men put the game to bed, and secured the points.

A first-time pass from Ballack found Drogba, who instantly controlled and played a teasing pass into the path of strike partner Nicolas Anelka, who duly walked the ball around the advancing Schwarzer and tapped into the empty net.

Chelsea, even this early in the campaign, have the hallmarks of a side that will be challenging for honours up until the dying embers of the season, and today they continued their hunt to wrestle the title from rivals Manchester United with another confident victory.

Goal

~ by footballdirecta on August 24, 2009.