Fulham vs Chelsea Prediction: Edgy derby on offer at the Cottage

A West London derby will take place on Wednesday night (20:00 GMT, live on Sky Sports Football) as Fulham welcome Chelsea to Craven Cottage.

It remains to be seen whether Liam Rosenior will be in the Chelsea dugout for this game, after the 41-year-old was announced as the new Blues boss on Tuesday, but they'll be looking to get back into the win column after drawing with Manchester City last time out. Fulham also shared the spoils in their most recent outing after Harrison Reed's late equaliser against Liverpool. Read on for my Fulham vs Chelsea predictions, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz is expected to miss out here due to the thigh injury he sustained against Liverpool.

Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze and Calvin Bassey all remain on Afcon duty with Nigeria, while Kenny Tete, Ryan Sessegnon and Joshua King all remain on the treatment table for the Cottagers.

As for Chelsea, Moises Caicedo will return from suspension, while Marc Cucurella is a doubt with a knee problem, alongside Robert Sanchez (muscle) and Wesley Fofana (illness).

Romeo Lavia and Levy Colwill are both definitely absent for the visitors along with Mykhaylo Mudryk, who continues to serve a doping ban.

Fulham vs Chelsea Odds

It's 5/2 for the Fulham win, the draw is 13/5 and Chelsea are 11/10, giving them an implied win probability of 47.6%.

Both teams to score is 4/6, while the Cottagers are 11/2 to win to nil and Chelsea are 11/4 for the same bet.

Match Result - Chelsea @ 11/10

History favours Chelsea when weighing up this game. With it being a derby game, that old cliche of 'form goes out of the window' does enter the thinking, but I'm siding with the visitors here.

Chelsea have won four of the last six league clashes, including a 2-0 home win earlier this season and a 2-1 victory at Craven Cottage last April. The Cottagers have struggled to get one over the Blues on their own ground - their two recent wins over Chelsea both came away from home.

Whether Rosenior is in the dugout or not, I think the whole club will feel a lift with his appointment and we'll likely see a new manager bounce. I thought Fulham did well to rescue a point against Liverpool last time out but I think they're currently punching above their weight.

Under 2.5 goals @ 1/1

Looking back at recent head-to-heads, scorelines have often remained close in this fixture.

Only one of the last six league meetings produced more than three goals, while several were decided by a single strike or finished level.

Fulham’s home games have gone over 2.5 goals in only half of their league fixtures, while only 60% of Chelsea's fixtures have cleared the 2.5 mark. I'm predicting a closely-fought contest and under 2.5 goals on Wednesday night.

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