CHELSEA splashed out an obscene £300 million plus during last month and with the transfer window now shut, it will be interesting to see if that outlay improves their current embarrassing tenth place spot.
And near-neighbours Fulham would love nothing more to spoil the feelgood factor with the Blues when they travel the short distance to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea's owners appear to have been playing Football Manager on steroids after an incredible late transfer burst. They broke the British record by splashing out a reported £107 million for Enzo Fernandez from Benfica. Added to that were Mykhailo Mudryk for £88.5m, Benoit Badiashile for £35m, Noni Madueke for £29m and Malo Gusto for £26.3m. And they are just the ones whose fees were disclosed.
How many of them were sanctioned by manager Graham Potter is of course another question, but whether he wanted these players or not, he had better get results…and sharpish.
Four of their new signings can't play in the Champions League, so it's vital they hit the ground running in the league and Friday is now very, very important for them. Potter will have to quickly integrate them into an underachieving squad.
Fulham, who limited their spending to a modest £8 million on Torino star Sasa Lukic, have been going along very nicely indeed this season and the pressure for them is well and truly off.
How the bookies view it
Chelsea are odds-on favourites here at 3/5 with Coral.
Fulham can be backed at 5/1 with Betfred and the draw is 16/5 with bet365.
Recent head to heads
The clubs met a few weeks ago at Craven Cottage and Fulham claimed a famous 2-1 win on the banks of the Thames to end a seven-game Chelsea winning streak.
Fulham haven't won at Stamford Bridge since 1979 when Ron ‘Chopper' Harris was still in the home line-up.
Players to watch
Predicting the Chelsea line-up is a hard ask and it could be a much-changed line-up but Kai Havertz scored their winner against Crystal Palace the other week and the German is 12/5 to score anytime with bet365.
Aleksandar Mitrovic was only on the bench for their FA Cup tie with Sunderland, but the Serbian striker will be looking to add to his 16 goals this season for club and country and is 13/5 with bet365 to score.
Anything else catch the eye?
This is a tricky one to predict with a Chelsea side that could be much-changed. They have still only won two home games since October in the league and it's a big leap of faith to think these new players will gel immediately at odds-on.
However, Fulham are far stronger at home than away at the bigger teams in particular. They have lost by one goal at Arsenal, Spurs, Manchester City and Newcastle United and that's the call again here – Chelsea to win by one goal at 13/5 with bet365.
Five of Fulham's last six games have seen under 2.5 goals and each of Chelsea's last four home games have seen unders too. SBK's 13/14 for under 2.5 goals looks a solid shout.
This English Premier League match between Chelsea and Fulham will be played on Feb 3, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Chelsea vs Fulham prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
