Chelsea vs. Fulham predictions: SW6 derbies, Ranieri and Schurrle return

Chelsea welcome Fulham back to the Premier League, Claudio Ranieri and Andre Schurrle back to Stamford Bridge and west London derbies back to our lives. Here’s our predictions for all these reunions.

Chelsea will be looking to complete their bounce back from the Tottenham loss by building on their dominance of PAOK. Fulham will be looking to continue their new-manager bounce after Claudio Ranieri ended Fulham’s seven-game losing streak with his first game in charge. Everything favours the hosts.

Scott Brant: Chelsea 2 – 0 Fulham. In Fulham’s last five they have played two top-four teams in Liverpool and Manchester City. Fulham lost both 2-0. Since Chelsea’s attack isn’t quite as devastating, maybe 1-0 is a safer prediction. Hoping for adjustments from Maurizio Sarri and a solid overall performance on both sides of the ball. Alvaro Morata scores as does Marcos Alonso, who is due for one.

Rupert Meadows: 2 – 1. Morata gets a goal and Chelsea score the winner in the last 20 minutes, but it’s an even game, with Fulham holding their own and creating chances throughout.

Kevin Peacock: 2 – 1. Let’s face it, this fixture couldn’t have possibly come at a worse time for Maurizio Sarri. The Italian has been incredibly stubborn regarding his team selections of late and, as a result, Chelsea have struggled to give the performances the fans would like.

Now a derby game against our nearest London neighbours Fulham, managed by our former boss Claudio Ranieri, featuring former player Andre Schurrle. It’s a recipe for defeat, unless Sarri comes up with plan B or even C, and starts to adapt to what is going on in front of his eyes in real-time.

However, I cannot predict a loss or even a draw (though it could be either). Goals from Pedro and Olivier Giroud ,and obviously Schurrle for Fulham.

Abhishek Pancholi: 3 – 1. Despite all that’s been said about Chelsea’s issues, Fulham’s troubles make them look trivial in comparison. Claudio Ranieri might steady the ship, but it won’t happen overnight.

Thankfully, the Blues run into the Cottagers at an opportune time. The new manager bounce won’t fix Fulham’s rotten defence, which should play nicely into Chelsea’s hands. Chelsea will establish a two goal lead before the break, and even though Schuerrle will halve the deficit, a late goal will seal a comfortable victory.

Hugo Amaya: 1 – 1. Agame where the team should be fired up and ready to take the bull by the horns will turn out as the opposite. Maurizio Sarri’s persistence with the same system with the same players and the same tactics will prove fruitless in a match Chelsea should win. To top it all off, former Chelsea player Andre Schurrle will get on the score sheet to level the the game for Fulham.

Nate Hofmann: 3 – 2. Talk about two teams trending in different directions. Maurizio Sarri’s house of cards finally imploded against Spurs, while Fulham’s hiring of Claudio Ranieri has already paid dividends. If this match was a month ago, 4-0 to Chelsea wouldn’t have been out of the question.  Now, that notion is nothing but a fever dream of days gone by.

That said, Fulham still have a defense that is even shakier than Chelsea’s, so we can expect the goals to flow like wine, and attackers to instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano (award yourself bonus points if you know what that’s from). Alvaro Morata, Ross Barkley, Olivier Giroud for Chelsea, Mitrovic and Mitrovic for Fulham.

Brendan McDonnell: 3 – 0. Fulham stinks, right?  I mean, they have a forever stamp on their forehead with a destination of the Championship. Lowest point total, worst goal differential, and most goals allowed.  How do Chelsea not mash these guys six ways to Sunday?

Alvaro Giroud, or maybe Olivier Morata, whatever… any #9 is scoring at least two. The other goes to some tall defender on a set piece.

I only really care about this game because my buddy Bern used to live 100 yards from Craven Cottage and, hoo boy, did he have some stories. On to Molineux!

Gabe Henderson: 3 – 1. The Blues are facing their nearest rivals, a newly promoted team with a former Chelsea manager at the helm. It’s a recipe for disaster. However, after the embarrassing loss to Spurs, Chelsea will have a fire lit under them.

The Blues are overdue for a dominant Premier League performance. Expect a lot of goals and a lot of quality from Chelsea, including a Hazard masterclass and a rare N’Golo Kante goal.