Chelsea Suffer Defeat to Fulham, Man City draw vs Everton

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Chelsea Suffer Defeat to Fulham, Man City draw vs Everton

Chelsea suffered a shock home loss to bitter rivals Fulham, conceding in the final stages of the game to lose 2-1.

It is their first defeat at home to the Cottages in Premier League history and will be a huge blow to the title-winning aspirations.

Things were going well for the Blues, with Cole Palmer opening the scoring with a fantastic solo goal. However, Harry Wilson pulled things level in the 82nd minute.

It looked as though the West London derby would end all square but there was one last twist in the tail.

Fulham bombed forward with a late attack and when the ball was worked into the box, Rodrigo Muniz kept his cool to roll the ball home and give his side their first away win in the league at Stamford Bridge since 1979.

In another Fixture, An own goal from Jarrad Branthwaite and a stunning equaliser from Iliman Ndiaye saw Manchester City and Everton split the points at the Etihad Stadium to kick off the Premier League's Boxing Day slate.

The visitors entered the contest having earned points against both Arsenal and Chelsea in their two previous league fixtures, while Man City were desperately seeking a win, having won just one of their last 12 games in all competitions.

Having started the brightest of the two sides, Man City thought they had got on the scoresheet first when Josko Gvardiol's header was directed on goal in the opening few minutes, but the frame of the goalpost was there to deny him.

But, it would take just 14 minutes before they broke the deadlock, with Bernardo Silva looking to have squeezed in his shot from a tight angle, though the big deflection on the shot saw it go down in the books as a Branthwaite own goal.

Chances came few and far between for both sides in the first half, but on the half-hour mark, Silva had a glorious chance to double City's lead, though he opted to strike the ball with the outside of his boot, which saw it sailing far wide of the sticks.

Having failed to capitalise on the few opportunities that they created, Everton all of a sudden found themselves level with Iliman Ndiaye striking the ball into the far corner with a sublime effort after the cross from Abdoulaye Doucoure found its way past two City defenders in the box and into his path.

Much like the first-half, it was the Sky Blues who started the brighter of the two sides in the second, and after Vitali Mykolenko brought down Savinho in the box, Erling Haaland was brandished with a golden opportunity to re-take the lead from the penalty spot.

But, having not scored a league goal since October 5th, the Norwegian striker's spot kick was saved by Jordan Pickford, and then he was deemed offside on the follow-up header.

Following the miss to re-take the lead, the game was stretched and end-to-end, but no side could find that crucial winner as the points were shared

As such, Man City move temporarily into sixth place in the table, though could find themselves lower after the completion of the Boxing Day fixtures. For Everton, it was another solid away performance, as they climb up into 15th place.

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