Chelsea (1) 2 v 0 (0) Fulham
45+9 Pedro, assist Fernandez
56 Fernandez (pen.)
Yellows: Caicedo Iwobi, Lukic Referee: Robert Jones
Played Saturday 30 August 2025 at Stamford Bridge, attendance 39,745.
Did this latest Premier London Derbies (PLDs) match hinge on VAR decisions or would the brilliance of Chelsea’s Brazilian forward Joao Pedro have won through anyway? The first VAR decision disallowed a 21st minute Fulham goal by their rapidly progressing No. 10 Josh King because of a “foul” in the buildup. This was not spotted by any of the 4 Match Officials. Is it the job of VAR to outsmart the on the pitch Officials or point out “clear and obvious errors” to them? It was Joao Pedro – yet another (£55 million) acquisition from Brighton and Hove Albion – assisted by another from there (Enzo Fernandez) who headed the opening goal. Fernandez scored the penalty after a handball adjudicated on by VAR. That’s 7 points for Chelsea from their opening Premier League (PL) 3 games all PLDs matches.
Pedro was an early buy for Chelsea this season who has already repaid much of his fee. He had displaced Nicolas Jackson from the starters, but Jackson’s desired move to Bayern Munich has been stopped due to an injury to Blues’ newcomer Liam Delap. He was a potential bargain at £22 million from relegated Ipswich Town and was part of a Chelsea spending spree matched by player sales. Brentford were plundered in the Transfer Window with the loss of top scorers Bryan Mbeumo (£65 million to Manchester United) and Yoane Wissa (£55 million to Newcastle United). Together they were a very effective PLDs pair like Kane and Son and Drogba and Lampard. Separated will they be?
The big spenders are not only biasing PL football but European Clubs too. Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich could not attract Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen who went to Liverpool (£116 million) nor Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart who went to Newcastle United (£65 million) who lost Alexander Isak (£125m) to Merseyside.
The next PLDs match is West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday 18 September. Whatever the outcome the fact that Daniel Levy has stood down as Executive Chairman at Spurs after 25 years will make all the news.
Until next time enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.