Fulham v Chelsea

Álvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham host Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea in a West London derby between two new coaching eras.

Fulham and Chelsea both finished 2025/26 on 52 points.

This is the clearest example in the round of why BRYME does not quote all-time head-to-head totals casually. Four sources checked for this fixture give four different answers: 92 meetings, 84, 62 and 41. Chelsea's own website has historically put it at 84 played, 49 won, 26 drawn, 9 lost — but that figure comes from a page written years ago and has not been updated for the meetings since.

The honest summary: Chelsea have dominated this fixture historically by any of those counts, and Fulham's wins over them are genuinely rare rather than merely infrequent.

The recent record is narrower than the history implies. Across the last five meetings Chelsea have won three and Fulham two, including a Fulham win at Craven Cottage in January 2026 — the venue for this fixture.

• Fulham 2-1 Chelsea — Premier League, January 2026. At Craven Cottage, where this fixture is played.
• Chelsea 2-0 Fulham — Premier League, August 2025.
• Fulham 1-2 Chelsea — Premier League, April 2025.
• Chelsea 1-2 Fulham — Premier League, December 2024. Fulham winning at Stamford Bridge.
• Chelsea 1-0 Fulham — Premier League, January 2024.
• Note: sources agree on all five scorelines and on the order. Exact dates vary by a day between aggregators, so months are given.

Last season's league record, as a baseline rather than a prediction.

Fulham finished 11th in 2025/26 on 52 points (15W 7D 16L, 47 scored, 51 conceded). Chelsea finished 10th in 2025/26 on 52 points (14W 10D 14L, 58 scored, 52 conceded).

BRYME is not publishing home-only and away-only splits for these sides yet. Those figures exist but have not been reconciled against an official source here, and a split quoted from memory is exactly the kind of number that quietly becomes wrong. The overall records above are verified against the final 2025/26 table; the home and away breakdowns will be added when sourced.

No major fixture-specific absences were confirmed in the supplied packet; recheck team news close to kick-off.

No suspensions affecting either side have been confirmed for this fixture at the time of writing.

This is a statement about what has been confirmed, not a guarantee that both squads are fully available. Bans carried over from last season and any late disciplinary decisions are checked again on matchday, and this section is updated if that changes.

Both clubs are implementing new identities, making early settling and control decisive.

Neither team’s first-choice XI under its new coach was settled in the supplied 14 August snapshot.

One point and one place separated these two last season — Chelsea 10th on 52, Fulham 11th on 52, split by goal difference alone (+6 against −4).

There is no underdog here in any statistical sense, which is worth stating plainly because the club names suggest otherwise. Chelsea arrive with Xabi Alonso taking his first competitive match in charge, and a new manager's opening fixture away at a local rival that finished level on points is a genuinely difficult assignment.

Fulham's specific case: 15 wins last season, more than Chelsea's 14, from a squad that finished below them. A team that wins more and finishes lower is usually one that loses badly and wins narrowly — 16 defeats against Chelsea's 14 bears that out — but it also means Fulham beating Chelsea at Craven Cottage would surprise nobody who read the table.

This reads as a low-margin derby with no clear favourite.

Fulham 1–1 Chelsea