fulham 2-0

The Times
Chelsea maintain 100 per cent start to Premier League season
Fulham 0 Chelsea 2
Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent

In terms of euphoria and intensity, the celebrations could not begin to match those down the Embankment and over the river at the Brit Oval, but, as a glorious afternoon turned to a balmy evening in London, there was a growing feeling in the pubs around Craven Cottage, too, that this might be 2005 all over again.
As news filtered through in the final moments of this one-sided West London derby that England’s cricketers had regained the Ashes, there were quaint, if muted, chants of “Eng-er-lund” and even God Save the Queen, but, by the time the referee blew his whistle and John Terry and his victorious team-mates marched towards the Putney End in celebration, the focus of the Chelsea supporters was firmly on the Barclays Premier League title.
With the league campaign barely a week old, this is no time to be jumping to conclusions about any team’s prospects, good or bad, but there is something about Chelsea’s manner that will inspire confidence among their supporters and at least trepidation among their rivals.
Yes, the same was said in the early stages of last season, when Luiz Felipe Scolari briefly had them playing the kind of football that Roman Abramovich envisaged when he first dreamt of Chelsea as “Barcelona in blue shirts”. However, under Carlo Ancelotti, they look like they mean business, building on the kind of firm foundations that his predecessor, now in charge of Bunyodkor, in Uzbekistan, did not begin to establish.
With every game that goes by, the dire final weeks of the Scolari regime look more like a trick of the imagination. Scolari refused to play Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka in tandem, but Ancelotti, in almost no time, has got them dovetailing beautifully.
Both scored a goal here to earn a deserved victory over an organised but uninspired Fulham, and Ancelotti was left drooling over how they set each other up for two extremely well-worked goals: Anelka doing the spadework for Drogba in the 39th minute before the compliment was returned with 14 minutes remaining.
“I was sure that they [Drogba and Anelka] could play together,” Ancelotti said. “They are fantastic strikers. They have different qualities, but I am happy because with the first goal Anelka made a fantastic pass to Drogba and then for the second goal Drogba made a fantastic pass to Anelka. It depends on the system a coach wants to use on the pitch, but Nicolas is a very complete striker.”
Anelka a complete striker? His former colleagues at Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers might disagree, but, at the age of 30, he has developed an appreciation of his team-mates and of his role. Here it was slightly different, dropping into a deeper position behind Drogba when Chelsea did not have the ball, but he adapted to it superbly — the result, Ancelotti said, adding another feather to his cap, of five days’ intensive work on the training ground.
This was not quite Chelsea at their marauding best, but they had some of the steamroller-like qualities that characterised their best moments when cruising to their first league title under José Mourinho in 2004-05. This team have a different shape — playing almost exclusively through the middle, whereas Mourinho’s team, in that first season at least, relied heavily on the wing play of Damien Duff and Arjen Robben — but, if anything, the modern version have a stronger spine, with Drogba a far more dominant centre forward.
Previous visits to Craven Cottage have brought all kinds of results in recent seasons, but here Chelsea barely gave Roy Hodgson’s team a glimmer of hope. Clinton Dempsey, turning sharply away from Ricardo Carvalho, had a glorious chance to open the scoring in the second minute, but, with more time than perhaps he realised, he shot high and wide. With Terry and — it should be noted — Ashley Cole in dominant form, Fulham did not get a real look-in after that.
The goals were similar in their conception, both coming from Fulham mistakes, after which Chelsea passed methodically but purposefully through the middle of the pitch before the final Anelka-Drogba combination. For the first, the ball was passed between Carvalho and Michael Ballack to Frank Lampard, who slipped away from Dickson Etuhu and played the ball through to Anelka, who in turn sent Drogba clear. Mark Schwarzer came out of his goal, but Drogba finished calmly inside the near post.
For the second, Drogba controlled a high ball into the path of Ballack and sped towards goal in anticipation of the return. Drogba then clipped the ball between Fulham’s central defenders, allowing Anelka to prove that he retains something of the pace that made him such a fearsome proposition in his teens. The France forward skipped around Schwarzer’s challenge and nonchalantly rolled the ball into the net. Job done.
Hodgson was honest enough to concede that Fulham had not come close to threatening Chelsea after falling behind, with Duff fading after making an encouraging start on his debut against his former club, but much of that was because of the way Chelsea defended. This was Chelsea’s first clean sheet under Ancelotti and, while Carvalho had the odd uncomfortable moment against Dempsey, it was ultimately achieved with ease. As an Italian, Ancelotti will of course be happier at that than anything else.
Fulham (4-4-2): M Schwarzer 6 J Paintsil 7 A Hughes 6 B Hangeland 6 P Konchesky 5 Z Gera 5 D Etuhu 6 D Murphy 6 D Duff 5 C Dempsey 6 R Zamora 4 Substitutes: D Kamara 4 (for Gera, 64min), C Baird 4 (for Murphy, 70), E Nevland (for Zamora, 75).Not used: P Zuberbühler, S Kelly, B H Riise, Seol Ki Hyeon. Next: Aston Villa (a).
Chelsea (4-3-1-2): P Cech 6 J Bosingwa 7 R Carvalho 6 J Terry 8 A Cole 8 M Ballack 7 J O Mikel 7 F Malouda 7 F Lampard 7 N Anelka 8 D Drogba 8 Substitutes: Deco (for Lampard, 81min), S Hutchinson (for Bosingwa, 86). Not used: R Turnbull, M Essien, B Ivanovic, S Kalou, D Sturridge. Next: Burnley (h).
Referee: A Marriner Attendance: 25,404

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Telegraph:
Fulham 0 Chelsea 2:

Goals from Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka have moved Chelsea into second place in the Premier League as they enjoyed a comfortable win over neighbours Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Drogba put Chelsea in front when he latched onto an Anelka pass to score in the 38th minute.
The Ivory Coast striker then turned provider in the 76th minute as he put Anelka through for Chelsea's second to preserve their 100 per cent start to the season.
Fulham immediately took the game to their neighbours and Clint Dempsey should have done better when he wriggled free of the Chelsea defence in the opening minute.
However, the American striker, playing in a more forward role in the absence of injured Andrew Johnson, shot high over the bar.
Chelsea wasted a chance to punish Fulham in the 12th minute when Drogba was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by Fulham captain Danny Murphy.
Michael Ballack elected to try his luck with the free-kick from 25-yards out in a central position but put his effort a yard over the bar.
Chelsea continued to press for an opening goal but their final ball was a disappointment on numerous occasions.
Captain John Terry was an example of their growing frustration when he tried his luck from 25 yards - but it soared over the bar.
Chelsea, though, finally broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when a fine three-man move left Fulham floored.
Frank Lampard slipped the ball through to Anelka, who in turn put Drogba in the clear with a clever pass.
The Ivory Coast international made no mistake as he slipped the ball beyond the advancing Mark Schwarzer for his third goal of the season.
It was just reward for Chelsea's first-half domination and a perfect example of how to pass the ball through an opposing defence.
Drogba managed to get clear of the Fulham defence again moments later but he was ruled marginally offside.
Fulham almost fluked an equaliser in the 50th minute when Murphy's deep cross into the penalty area was headed over his own goal by Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho.
But Chelsea's domination was soon restored and Drogba almost grabbed a second in the 54th minute when he latched onto a clever lob by Anelka.
This time, however, the Ivory Coast striker was denied at the second attempt by Australian keeper Schwarzer.
Chelsea went two in front in the 76th minute when Drogba turned supplier for Anelka.
The France international rounded Schwarzer and coolly slotted the ball home to give Chelsea all three points.

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Mail:
Fulham 0 Chelsea 2:
Carlo's cruise - another easy ride for Blues' new boss

Not every Chelsea team are having such an easy ride this season, if the events at their Cobham training ground are anything to go by.While the reserves found themselves caught up in a karate kicking scrap in midweek, the first team have so far encountered no meaningful resistance, brushing aside their nearest neighbours here in a Barclays Premier League contest that produced not a single booking.For Carlo Ancelotti, it has been a relatively gentle introduction to English football. He started with Hull, followed that with a trip to Sunderland and has now continued what amounts to a perfect start here at Craven Cottage.By the time Burnley have been to Stamford Bridge and he has sampled the delights of Stoke, the Italian might be wondering what all the fuss is about. The toughest league in the world? Not on the evidence that has been presented to the Italian.But here's the thing: the success Ancelotti has tasted to date is not just down to the obvious flaws in the opposition. It owes as much to the quality of a Chelsea side looking every bit as formidable as they were under Jose Mourinho.
Chelsea have, of course, been here before. Luiz Felipe Scolari started with 20 points from a possible 24 last season before the team began to stutter and Roman Abramovich hit the panic button.But Ancelotti appears to have continued where Scolari's interim successor Guus Hiddink left off and turned Chelsea into a side who look capable of just about anything this season.They are a team boasting that deadly combination of fluency and athleticism which, in the words of Sir Alex Ferguson, made them so impressively consistent when they won consecutive titles under the self-anointed Special One.While we will get a more accurate measure of their ability when they meet Tottenham at Stamford Bridge next month, the echoes of their time under Mourinho were inescapable yesterday.
They were so superior to their hosts. Strong, powerful and fast, they cut through Fulham's defence with terrific one-touch football and scored excellent goals from Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.Can they play together? Definitely. Asked what Chelsea's secret is this season, John Terry noted the importance of keeping the core of the team together in a transfer window that has seen their main rivals haemorrhaging top players.'Didier has been our best signing of the summer,' said the captain, and convincing Drogba to stay, when it seemed he was intent on leaving, and sign a new contract has been hugely important.As he again demonstrated yesterday, Drogba is still among the finest strikers in the world - an immense athlete and, as Terry knows only too well after encountering him a million times on the training pitch, 'unplayable' when he performs like this.His speed and his finishing ability enabled him to open the scoring six minutes before the interval, timing his run to perfection and beating Fulham's offside trap before guiding his shot past Mark Schwarzer.Anelka had provided the perfectly-weighted pass that allowed Drogba to score and he returned the favour in the 77th minute when Anelka put the points beyond Fulham's reach.
It was a move that was breathtaking in its execution, started at one end of the field by Petr Cech and finished as quickly, seemingly, as it would have taken Usain Bolt to cover the distance.The balled moved from Cech to Ricardo Carvalho, Drogba, Michael Ballack, Drogba and then Anelka, who accelerated past Schwarzer before scoring into an empty net. Again the final ball was terrific, Anelka and Drogba showing Ancelotti just how effective a partnership they could become. Fulham offered little in response.
The absence of Andy Johnson weakened their attack, while an injury to Danny Murphy midway through the second half made it that much more difficult for Roy Hodgson's side to cope with Chelsea's physically-imposing midfield, so dominant even without the rested Michael Essien.If Ancelotti left Craven Cottage with any concerns, they might have centred on his deployment of Frank Lampard. The England midfielder says he is comfortable playing in a more advanced role and he still had a decent game yesterday. But is he as influential as he has been in the deeper position he has occupied in previous seasons? So far it would seem not.The answer might be to play with less rigidity. Ancelotti will not want to make too many changes when his team has started so well. Even Florent Malouda is performing with consistency and emphasising the real strength in depth Chelsea now possess.Yesterday, as well as Essien, they had Deco, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge on the bench and they still have Yuri Zhirkov and Joe Cole to return from injury. No wonder Ancelotti remains calm about the club's failure to secure so many of their transfer targets.

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Independent:
Drogba puts Chelsea in total control
Fulham 0 Chelsea 2
By Sam Wallace

Sometimes it is the power of Didier Drogba that wins Chelsea games, sometimes it is his pace. Yesterday, Fulham just seemed to capitulate on the basis of his reputation alone. This was the old warhorse at his very best, sweeping aside a defence, winning a game, all on his own.
Drogba scored the first, Nicolas Anelka the second and the pair of them were just too much to handle for a woeful Fulham. The biggest cheer of the day from the home fans was for England's victory in the Ashes, hastily announced at the end of the game. This was a good day to bury bad news and for Fulham there was lots of it.
For Carlo Ancelotti, with three victories in his first three games, this is turning into a dream start, although previous Chelsea managers have seen such dreams become cold-sweat nightmares by January. In the sunshine, with their travelling fans buoyant, Chelsea swept the other club in Fulham away just as aggressively as they did in the glory years under Jose Mourinho.
John Terry said afterwards that Chelsea have the advantage over the rest of the big four. "I'm delighted we kept our squad together unlike the other two," said the Chelsea captain, which was a bit rich coming from the man who did so little to discourage the intense interest from Manchester City this summer. By the "two" he could easily mean any pair from Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool but you get his point.
Ancelotti finds himself in the unusual position of being second place in the Premier League only to Tottenham Hotspur, which is not something any Chelsea manager in recent history has experienced. "It is a great start," he said. "We wanted to do this. It's a good moment for the team. We have trust in our potential. It's a very good moment. The most important thing is that the players have good motivation."
Last season it took Drogba until 26 December to score his first goal in the Premier League. This time round he has three already and has been unplayable at times. Yesterday the striker said that there was "never any doubt" that he and Anelka could play together. "We are intelligent people and we know how to play together. We just need some time."
For now, Ancelotti is happy to look like the genius who has managed to get two of the moodiest strikers around to work together. He said yesterday: "I was sure the two of them could play together. They are fantastic strikers. They have different qualities: Anelka made a fantastic pass to Drogba for the first goal and Drogba made the second for Anelka."
Before anyone gets too carried away, Chelsea under Ancelotti are fundamentally no different in formation to Chelsea under Guus Hiddink, Scolari or Avram Grant: they have all lined up the team in the 4-1-4-1 formation created by Jose Mourinho. There has been the occasional attempt to adapt the system, some with more success than others, but Ancelotti is showing little chance of deviating too radically.
Anelka had started nominally on the right side of midfield yesterday which Ancelotti said he changed at half-time by encouraging Anelka to push on and support Drogba in a variation on 4-1-4-1. It looked good when they went forward but with this system there is the nagging sense that with Anelka pushed forward, Chelsea's right side looks a bit under-clubbed.
Anelka's pass was the one that sent Drogba free of the Fulham back-line in the 39th minute, timing his run beautifully to get away from a home defence that looked ponderous. The Chelsea striker does that so well, and he finished even better, rolling the ball past Mark Schwarzer.
Ancelotti's team were completely dominant save for one period before their first goal when Fulham actually looked confident enough to emerge from their own half and apply some pressure. Otherwise they looked star-struck in the presence of their illustrious neighbours.
The dissatisfaction amid the Fulham support at their team's general lethargy found its focus with Zoltan Gera who was having a dreadful time of it on the right side of midfield. One too many bad touches and the groans turned to outright hostility. The placid folk from down by the Thames have got it in for Gera and there were cheers when he was substituted.
Drogba made the second goal exquisitely, taking the ball on his chest before slipping it through to Anelka. He walked the ball around Schwarzer for the perfect finish and the game was over with time to spare.
Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, bemoaned Jonathan Greening's agent Mel Stein taking so long on Friday to negotiate his fee that the midfielder on loan from West Bromwich Albion was not registered in time to play yesterday. Greening cannot come soon enough with Danny Murphy injured yesterday. The boos for Fulham from their fans at full-time showed the ludicrously-inflated expectation that last year's seventh place has encouraged
Fulham (4-4-2): Schwarzer; Pantsil, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky; Gera (Kamara, 62), Etuhu, Murphy (Baird, 70), Duff; Zamora (Nevland, 75), Dempsey. Substitutes not used: Zuberbuhler (gk), Kelly, Seol, Riise.
Chelsea (4-1-3-2): Cech; Bosingwa (Hutchinson, 82), Carvalho, Terry, A Cole; Mikel; Ballack, Lampard (Deco, 81), Malouda; Drogba, Anelka. Substitutes not used: Turnbull (gk), Ivanovic, Essien, Kalou, Sturridge.
Referee: A Marriner (West Midlands)
Man of the match: Drogba
Attendance: 25,404
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Guardian:
Drogba makes the difference as Chelsea play it by numbers
Fulham 0 Chelsea 2 Drogba 39, Anelka 76
Kevin McCarra at Craven Cottage

Chelsea's opener will be disputed, but there is no questioning the outcome. If Didier Drogba was offside when he finished off a fine move six minutes from the interval, the margin was too fine for any Fulham player to launch into furious dissent. Not long afterwards, another tight call went against the Ivorian.
The first goal had been smooth. Frank Lampard fed Nicolas Anelka on the right and his pass set up Drogba to shoot low into the far corner of the net. Although Anelka eventually added a second, this was a somewhat dull contest as Chelsea took great care in their work. With a first clean sheet on his record, Carlo Ancelotti will approve.
In the first half there might as well have been some sort of agreement about the respective responsibilities. Fulham were ready to defend at length and the visitors were mostly preoccupied with probing attacks. The contrast was unavoidable. Fulham's means are limited and now they are obliged to do without their striker Andrew Johnson, who will be out for two months with a shoulder injury.
It was no surprise to find the Craven Cottage manager Roy Hodgson, in his programme notes, again decrying the challenge, during Thursday's Europa League qualifier with Amkar Perm, that did the damage. Given Fulham's unhappy record, which now extends to one win in the last 26 meetings with Chelsea, the loss of Johnson may really be more telling against lesser opponents.
Hodgson's side lacked the means to keep the match in the balance. In the 76th minute, Drogba delivered a sharp pass and Anelka rounded the goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer before easing the ball into the net.

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Sun:
Fulham 0 Chelsea 2

CARLO ANCELOTTI insists he will keep on tinkering with his Chelsea squad after watching them despatch west London neighbours Fulham 2-0 with consummate ease. Chelsea made four changes from the side that defeated Sunderland last Tuesday but it made little difference to the cohesion as goals from Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka fired them to a 2-0 victory at Craven Cottage.
Ancelotti left midfielders Deco and Michael Essien on the bench along with centre-half Branislav Ivanovic and striker Salomon Kalou and promised that his rotation policy will continue.
"Deco was out and Essien was out for this game," said Ancelotti. "But it was a good line-up. Essien has played all the games so far, so I wanted to give him a rest.
"He will play the next game. We have to follow this line."
Ancelotti was also left drooling at the Drogba-Anelka combination in attack.
The pair were untouchable against the Cottagers even though Anelka was playing in behind lone striker Drogba instead of alongside him.
They both created goals for each other and Fulham had no answer to their power, pace and trickery.
"I am sure they can play together because they are fantastic strikers and have different qualities," said Ancelotti.
"For the first goal, Nicolas put a fantastic pass through for Didier and for the second goal, Didier put a fantastic pass through for Nicolas. They did a very good job together.
"Nicolas is a very complete striker. He can play in the centre and on the right and left, he can play behind the striker.
"Our idea today for Nicolas was that he would stay a little bit behind Didier.
In the first-half he played a little bit on the right and our play was not so good but it improved in the second half because he took a position more in the centre."
Chelsea are now second in the Barclays Premier League with a 100% record from three games and Ancelotti admitted it had been the perfect start to his reign at Stamford Bridge.
"It is a great start," said Ancelotti. "We wanted to do this. It is a good moment for the team. We have to maintain this now.
"The players have a good motivation and no problems. It is very good.
"It is the first time we have not conceded and that is good. The defensive line played very well. They had very good concentration and movement. They played a fantastic match."
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson accepted that Chelsea had been the better side and revealed how Jonathan Greening's agent prevented him from signing in time to play any part in the game.
Greening has joined the club on a season-long loan from West Bromwich Albion but Hodgson said the deal was held-up for six hours while the player's agent waited for his own fee to be agreed.
Hodgson also hinted that his side looked tired after their midweek Europa League victory over Russian side Amkar Perm.
"We certainly played like we were tired," said Hodgson. "I thought our energy levels were low. We kept Chelsea at bay for long periods by keeping a decent shape but we never got close enough to disturb them as much as we would have liked to have done.
"In the end we lost and deservedly so. Looking at this game over 90 minutes I thought Chelsea deserved to win it. Both their goals came from clearances that bounced back to them.
"We didn't look like conceding a hatful of goals but on the other hand I didn't think we had anything near enough like the possession we would have needed to cause them more problems.
"They have the technique and pace to cause problems for the opposition and they caused problems for us today and we lost the game.
"They didn't pepper our goal with shots but they had control of the game after half-time and we didn't have enough in our locker."
As for Greening's situation, Hodgson added: "His agent took six hours to agree the agency fees so between 12.30 and 6.30pm, the agent was refusing to let him sign because his fee had not been agreed.
"When he eventually signed at 6.30pm it was an hour-and-a-half too late."

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