EPL

Fulham 2-1 Chelsea: Carlos Vinicius piles more pressure on Potter after debutant Joao Felix sent off

By Sports Desk January 12, 2023

Debutant Joao Felix's red card proved costly as Carlos Vinicius earned Fulham a 2-1 win over west London rivals Chelsea that piles even more pressure on head coach Graham Potter.

Joao Felix was named in injury-hit Chelsea's starting line-up, a day after joining on loan from Atletico Madrid, and saw red for a lunge on Kenny Tete shortly before the hour mark.

Chelsea had fought their way back into the match at the time of that dismissal after Kalidou Koulibaly's close-range finish cancelled out former Blues winger Willian's first-half opener at Craven Cottage.

Fulham were without suspended top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic, but Carlos Vinicius headed in his first Fulham goal in the 73rd minute to land his side a rare win in this fixture and make it six defeats in eight for Chelsea.

Bernd Leno did well to keep out an early Lewis Hall strike in a bright start from Chelsea, with Joao Felix looking particularly lively in the final third.

Fulham soon grew into the game and struck the crossbar through a powerful Bobby Decordova-Reid effort, shortly after Carlos Vinicius had a penalty shout rejected.

However, Willian gave Fulham the lead when Chelsea's defence backed off and allowed the winger to fire away a shot that deflected off Trevoh Chalobah on its way through.

Leno continued to frustrate Chelsea, but he was almost caught out by a Mason Mount free-kick that struck the right-hand post and landed nicely for Koulibaly to squeeze over the line.

Chelsea lost another player to injury when Denis Zakaria hobbled off and then had Joao Felix dismissed for a studs-up challenge on Tete.

More misery was to follow for Chelsea and Potter as Andreas Pereira played in a delightful cross for Carlos Vinicius to get above Chalobah and power home a winning goal at the back post.

Related items

  • Sinner snaps Alcaraz's win streak, books Miami Open final against Medvedev Sinner snaps Alcaraz's win streak, books Miami Open final against Medvedev

    Jannik Sinner is through to the Miami Open decider after eliminating world number one Carlos Alcaraz 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2 in Friday's semi-final.

    Sinner, 21, has enjoyed a terrific start to 2023. Since the beginning of the Australian Open, the Italian has only lost three matches – to Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Alcaraz.

    He avenged his defeat to Tsitsipas with a straight sets win at the Rotterdam Open, and he has now got one back on Alcaraz after their three-hour war of attrition.

    Both players created exactly 12 break point opportunities, and Sinner's 26 unforced errors were only one less than Alcaraz's 27, but the Spanish 19-year-old committed an uncharacteristic nine double faults. The loss snapped Alcaraz's 10-match winning streak.

    The victory gives Sinner his second appearance in the Miami Open final after losing the 2021 edition to Hubert Hurkacz, and he now joins Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the only players to ever reach the final here twice before turning 22.

    Sinner will get a chance to avenge his only other loss this year in the final after Daniil Medvedev booked his spot with a 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3 victory over Russian compatriot Karen Khachanov.

    Incredibly, Khachanov lost despite hitting 53 winners and only 11 unforced errors, and he ended up edging the total point count 93-88, but he could only convert two of his six break point opportunities, while Medvedev converted two out of four.

    The win means Medvedev is the first player since Roger Federer in 2019 to reach the final of both the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open in the same season, and he is the first since Federer in 2006 to reach five ATP finals before the clay court season begins.

  • Kvitova defeats Cirstea to join Rybakina in the Miami Open final Kvitova defeats Cirstea to join Rybakina in the Miami Open final

    Petra Kvitova is through to her 41st WTA singles final after defeating Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-4 in Friday's Miami Open semi-final.

    Kvitova, 33, already has 29 singles titles under her belt, including eight at the WTA 1000 level. Despite showing she can still compete with the best – making the final at the 2019 Dubai Championships, the 2020 Qatar Open and the 2022 Cincinnati Open, her last WTA 1000 victory came at the 2018 Madrid Open.

    Against Romania's Cirstea – who came into the contest with nine wins from her past 10 matches – Czech veteran Kvitova was put on the back foot early as her serve was broken to go 5-2 down.

    But she saved two set points, and used that momentum to ignite a run of seven consecutive games, taking the first set and the early break in the second as a result.

    Kvitova did not allow Cirstea to produce a single break point opportunity in the second set, winning 75 per cent (21-of-28) of her total service points to slam the door shut.

    With the win, Kvitova joined Chris Evert and Serena Williams as the only women to ever reach the Miami Open final after turning 33 years old, booking her place against the hottest talent on the tour – Elena Rybakina – in the decider.

    Rybakina has won her past 13 matches, and is looking to become the fifth woman to ever complete the Sunshine Double after eliminating both world number one Iga Swiatek and world number two Aryna Sabalenka to lift the Indian Wells Open title.

     

  • Icing on the cake – Al Nassr celebrate Ronaldo's record-setting Portugal cap Icing on the cake – Al Nassr celebrate Ronaldo's record-setting Portugal cap

    Al Nassr celebrated Cristiano Ronaldo's record-breaking Portugal appearance in style.

    Given his impeccable commitment to athleticism, Ronaldo might not have dug into the cake he was presented with on Friday.

    Al Nassr were celebrating the 38-year-old becoming the most-capped men's player of all time.

    Ronaldo made his 197th appearance for Portugal on March 23, scoring twice in a 4-0 defeat of Liechtenstein.

    Along with marking that achievement, Al Nassr also celebrated Abdulrahman Ghareeb's 25th birthday.

    "Today, we celebrate a record and birthday," the club tweeted. "The record of most capped player in international football [and] the birthday of a talented Saudi player."

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.