- Safiu Kehinde
Chelsea football club has kicked off the 2026/2027 English Premier League season with a narrow 3-2 win against Fulham.
The blues travelled to Craven Cottage on Monday for the league opener in a West London derby.
With the FIFA Club World Cup champions now guided by new manager, Xabi Alonso, the squad witnessed a change in formation as Alonso adopted the 3-4-2-1 formation which had Joao Pedro spearheading an attack flanked by talisman, Cole Palmer, and debutant, Morgan Rodgers
This paid off for Chelsea barely one minute into the game as Palmer snatched a loose clearance from Fulham’s defense and send the ball through to the waiting legs of Pedro who flipped it over the home team’s goalkeeper, Bernad Leno, to give the blues the lead within 35 seconds of play.
The goal also saw Pedro allayed concern over his new number 9 jersey which many Chelsea fans considered to be cursed.
Chelsea’s lead however lasted till the 23rd minute when Fulham overran the visitor’s back three with their press with 19-year-old Josh King firing home the equaliser.
King fired the ball past the shaky Chelsea’s goalkeeper, Robert Sanchez, who several fans expected to clear the ball.
However, the Alonso-led blues would retain their lead in the 41st minute as debutant, Rogers, slotted in a square ball from fellow debutant Maxence Lacroix.
Chelsea returned to the second half with Palmer doubling the lead barely four minutes into the next 45 minutes.
The blues talisman crowned his impressive display with a goal.
Fulham however pulled one back again in the 54th minute as a poor clearance from Sanchez again gifted debutant, Gonzalo Garcia, a goal scoring opporunity.
The Spaniard headed the ball home to reduce the deficit to 3-2.
Chelsea put on a strong defensive display to deny Fulham an equaliser as the game ended with the world champions stealing all three points.