Chelsea suffered their third defeat of the Premier League season in yesterday’s fixture at home to Fulham.
Chelsea hosted local rivals Fulham on Boxing Day in a league showdown, but the home supporters had the festive cheer drained out of them after a 2-1 loss.
The Blues went ahead through Cole Palmer’s fabulous individual goal. Chelsea fans compared Palmer to Eden Hazard after the style and finesse of his strike, where he dribbled past a couple of opponents before a calm side-footed finish.
However, Fulham completely flipped the contest in the closing stages with late goals from Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz to earn the visitors three points at Stamford Bridge.
- READ MORE: Cole Palmer reveals what head coach Enzo Maresca did straight after Chelsea’s late defeat to Fulham
Chelsea winger Jadon Sancho lucky to be 90 minutes
A handful of Chelsea stars dipped below their usual level in the Fulham loss, including Jadon Sancho.
Even with several Blues individuals struggling, Chelsea manager Maresca only made one substitution against Fulham. Christopher Nkunku replaced Nicolas Jackson for the final stages, but where were the changes earlier on when the momentum was shifting in Fulham’s favour?
Sancho got a full 90 minutes under his belt on the left wing, which is extremely fortunate when you examine his contribution.
The 24-year-old attacker has warranted a place in the best XI in recent times because of his creativity and directness. However, he was non-existent for large spells against Fulham as he struggled to get anything going.
Sancho’s individual statistics on Boxing Day were pretty poor. For instance, he created zero chances in the league defeat.
| Match rating | Minutes played | Total shots | Successful dribbles | Big chances missed | Accurate crosses | Chances created |
| 6.1 | 90 | 1 | 1/2 (50%) | 1 | 0/2 (0%) | 0 |
Sancho has been an intelligent pick up from Manchester United in the summer, but he definitely is still searching for high levels of consistency.
Who starts on the wings for Chelsea vs Ipswich
Up next, Chelsea travel to Ipswich Town on 30 December for their final match of 2024. It’s going to be fascinating to see who starts in the wide positions for the league game.
Sancho, along with Pedro Neto, started in the wide areas during the Fulham defeat. However, there wasn’t too much to shout about from either pair as offensive threats, so will the Chelsea manager makes changes?
Noni Madueke would usually be the Blues winger to come into the conversation to start, but he was left out of the squad on Boxing Day.
Maresca confirmed Chelsea’s Madueke was omitted against Fulham from the matchday squad because of a “technical decision”. It’s going to be interesting to see if there’s any further fallout from the mysterious choice.
If Chelsea want to go in a different direction versus Ipswich, the likes of Joao Felix or Tyrique George could be an option to start on the wing.
As it stands, the sensible guess would be Sancho and Neto get the chance to redeem themselves in a few days time.
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