Chelsea vs Fulham LIVE: Premier League result and final score as Blues held to goalless draw

Graham Potter has described circumstances at Chelsea so far this season as “sub-optimal” but says it is now an “exciting” time for the club after an expenditure of over £300m in the January transfer window.

The Stamford Bridge boss said he does not think Chelsea’s record-breaking spending “will continue as it has” - but the caveat to that is he felt similar before the British record signing of Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.

Potter did admit that he has been faced with “tough decisions” in selecting the 25-man squad for the Champions League squad, but described the club’s general policy as a “regeneration” that is also aimed to deliver results now.

It does increase the pressure on a group that finds itself 10th in the Premier League table despite Chelsea’s transfer business, amid a series of injuries and changes as Potter himself has adjusted to a new club.

Fulham are one short of equalling the club Premier League record of five away victories in a season, set in 2003/04.

They are vying to win a fourth top-flight London derby for the first time in a single campaign.

Chelsea have only won two of their last 11 league games under Graham Potter, earning 10 points and scoring just seven goals.

They are winless in all nine Premier League matches this season against the teams currently above them in the table. Fulham are seventh, two points above the Blues.

Marco Silva believes Chelsea’s flurry of signings in the January transfer window shows their “power” and “ambition” as a force within English football.

The Blues were the biggest spenders during the January transfer window, as Todd Boehly’s consortium shelled out in excess of £300million including a British record deal for Enzo Fernandez.

Graham Potter has bolstered his options with the arrival of £106.8m Fernandez from Benfica as well as Mykhailo Mudryk, who arrived for £88.5m from Shakhtar Donetsk, and Joao Felix among others.

Silva believes the amount of money spent by Fulham’s local rivals, ahead of the meeting between the two sides at Stamford Bridge on Friday, is not a new phenomenon.

Graham Potter makes three changes to the Chelsea team that drew 0-0 with Liverpool in their previous outing. Trevoh Chalobah and Lewis Hall drop out and Jorginho has joined Arsenal in the January transfer window.

In come Reece James, Mykhailo Mudryk and new signing Enzo Fernandez makes his debut.

Marco Silva meanwhile names an unchanged Fulham team to the one that lost to Tottenham last time out.

Chelsea XI: Arrizabalaga, James, Thiago Silva, Badiashile, Cucurella, Gallagher, Fernanez, Mount, Ziyech, Havertz, Mudryk

Fulham XI: Leno, Tete, Diop, Ream, Robinson, Palhinha, Reed, Pereira, De Cordova-Reid, Mitrovic, Willian

Chelsea are unbeaten in all 15 Premier League home matches against Fulham, winning 2-0 in each of the three most recent encounters.

Is tonight a formality or can Fulham pull off a shock win?

In the discussions to inform next week’s white paper on football, many stakeholders were attempting to get the government to understand this is much more than a “once a generation” moment.

They described it as possibly the only opportunity to properly assess the English game and where it’s going, since nothing like this has ever been done before. It is quite a thought, that illustrates the “enormity” of what this government are taking on. In 160 years of codified English football, there has never been anything like an attempt at a holistic assessment of the sport and what it should look like.

Even events since the Super League, like Chelsea’s spending, illustrate it is now more important than ever. There are reservations within the game over whether Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Michelle Donelan gets this, as eyebrows were raised over recent statements and questions.

Fulham won the reverse fixture 2-1 at Craven Cottage on 12th January and can do the double over Chelsea for the first time. This is the 38th season they have been in the same division.

The Cottagers have only managed two victories in 37 away league games against Chelsea: 2-1 in the top flight in March 1964 and 2-0 in the second tier in October 1979.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been left out of Chelsea’s squad for the Champions League knockout stages with new signings Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Joao Felix all included.

Aubameyang started all the Blues’ six group matches, scoring two goals, but Chelsea’s January spend meant that the Blues had to cut some members of their large squad to abide by Champions League rules.

France defender Benoit Badiashile, a £35m January signing, also misses out as does England Under-21s winger Noni Madueke and fellow new arrivals Andrey Santos and David Datro Fofana.

That’s a lot of money spent on players who won’t feature in Europe this season. Will the decision to leave them out help or hinder Graham Potter?