Premier League: Joao Felix debut in tatters as Fulham compound Chelsea woes

Fulham piled more misery on struggling Chelsea with a 2-1 victory at Craven Cottage in Thursday’s west London derby, which also saw new loan signing Joao Felix sent off on his Blues debut.

Former Chelsea midfielder Willian had given Fulham a 25th-minute lead against his former club before Kalidou Koulibaly scrambled home an equaliser two minutes into the second half.

But Felix, who was enjoying an impressive debut following his loan move from Atletico Madrid, cut short Chelsea’s comeback when his high tackle on Kenny Tete just before the hour mark saw the Portugal forward shown a red card.

Fulham took advantage of their numerical advantage as Carlos Vinicius, in for the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic, made the most of more poor Chelsea defending to head home the winner in the 73rd minute.

The goal was enough to give Fulham their fourth win in a row in the top flight for the first time since 1966 and takes Marco Silva’s impressive side above Liverpool and into the top six, though having played two games more. They are also now six points above a Chelsea team that remain languishing down in 10th spot.

And the pressure is sure to only increase on Chelsea boss Graham Potter after a third straight defeat in all competitions, to leave them with just one win in their last nine Premier League outings.

There was more misery for Potter, too, besides the result. Not only will he now lose Felix for three games to suspension but he also saw midfielder Denis Zakaria suffer a second-half injury to add to Chelsea’s mounting list of absentees.

ESPN