Chelsea Wins, but Fulham Makes Them Work for It

There are only six miles separating Stamford Bridge from Craven Cottage, but that's a world away in football terms.

Both sites are looking toward expansion, but it appears only one is going forward.

It's the one you'd least expect:

• Since losing his UK visa, Russian kajillionaire Roman Abramovich has put plans to redevelop the Bridge -- boosting capacity to 60,000 -- on hold;
• Since purchasing Fulham Football Club from former Harrods owner -- and father of Princess Diana's last squeeze -- Mohamed al-Fayed, Shahid Khan has gained approval to expand the Cottage ground to 30,000 seats.

 

Both have battles on the pitch, too.

• Chelsea is scrapping to stay in touch with Premiership leaders Manchester City, while
• Fulham is holding up the entire table and looking the part.

To no one's surprise, then, the Blues posted a routine 2-0 victory with Pedro and Ruben Loftus-Cheek doing the honors.

 

Fulham tried to catch their neighbors napping at the outset, but that didn't work out so well.

In the 4th minute, Jean Michaël Seri lost the ball in the midfield to N'Golo Kanté. The French national drove forward and dimed it to Pedro, who had time to leave Alfie Mawson in his rear view mirror and slotted home in the left bottom corner:

 

With the early goal, Chelsea went straight into possession mode. The Cottagers did what they could to keep up. Thus, neither Kepa Arrizabalaga and Sergio Rico had time to read a book during the afternoon's proceedings.

By the 82nd minute, well after everybody figured the game was done and dusted, Eden Hazard stepped up, entered in the area, and passed to Loftus-Cheek, who gave Blues fans an additional warm and fuzzy feeling on their way to the pub:

 

In the end, Chelsea didn't lose ground to Manchester City, but the Sky Blues aren't making that task any easier.

Meanwhile, Fulham has shown the will and the energy but not enough firepower to make their efforts pay off. A 30,000-seat stadium should suit their purposes rather well when they're back in the Championship.