Right, this is the real quiz. Graham Potter’s first five months at Stamford Bridge were understandably messy, but now Chelsea have drawn a £300m line in the sand. Potter has eight new players, two old full-backs (Reece James and Ben Chilwell, arguably Chelsea’s most important players, are back in the squad) and fewer legitimate excuses than he had a month ago.
This is still a medium-term project for Potter, but for the first time it feels like his squad – a group of promising young players (even if some of them cost eye-watering amounts) who have the potential to become world-class in the next few years. They’re copying Arsenal, essentially, except they’ve squashed multiple transfer windows into one.
Chelsea lost 2-1 at Craven Cottage back in the dark days, just over three weeks ago to be precise, and Fulham have the chance to do the double over Chelsea for the first time in their history. Marco Silva’s team have had a couple of frustrating defeats since then but they are still seventh, and top of the west London mini-league. Chelsea start in tenth, though a win would lift them to sixth, even if it’s just for one day.
