Welcome to the final game of the night, where Chelsea will be eager – and surely energised despite the overload of fixtures – to take advantage of Spurs’ slip-up and get back into the Champions League places. They don’t have the best record at Craven Cottage, however, and Fulham won’t wish to drop off their good recent form in the derby.

The teams:

Fulham: Schwarzer, Kelly, Hangeland, Hughes, John Arne Riise, Duff, Murphy, Diarra, Frei, Dembele, Dempsey. Subs: Stockdale, Orlando Sa, Kasami, Senderos, Etuhu, Briggs, Kacaniklic.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand, Mikel, Meireles, Kalou, Lampard, Ramires, Torres. Subs: Turnbull, Romeu, Mata, Drogba, Malouda, Bosingwa, Sturridge.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg

No Mata for Chelsea the big news.

And we’re off…

Chelsea have began decently. Bit of bite about it so far, as you’d expect from a derby. No clear chances yet though.

Nice move from Chelsea there with Sturridge playing it inside, Meireles flicking it back for Torres to shoot only for a brave Fulham foot to get in the way.

Not too many signs that Chelsea are overly jaded after Saturday’s efforts. Fulham obviously more restrained since they don’t need the win as badly.

Chelsea go through the motions of some neat build-up play before Mikel blazes it high over the bar from distance.

Damien Duff could have done the business against his old club there as a cross was beautifully stood up for him. His connection was meek though, leaving an easy save for Cech.

And, for once, Clint Dempsey’s goalscoring touch deserts him. Fulham manufactured n opportunity in the Chelsea box and, although the ball came at him slightly awkwardly, his attempt from just eight yards out was poor, low and straight at Cech.

Frei then makes Cech work much harder with a low shot from distance after evading a couple of challenges. The keeper just tips it wide. Fulham well in the ascendancy now.

Chelsea have steadied the ship and congested Fulham’s line of attack. Martin Jol frantically directing Duff where to make his runs as the Irishman takes a swig.

PENALTY! Danny Murphy goes in fairly poorly with two feet. In fact it might have been worse than just a penalty. A stricter referee might have given red. Frank Lampard steps up…

GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Chelsea

Lampard slams it home brilliantly. Right into the corner. In truth, it’s fortunate enough for Chelsea given that Fulham had been the better team.

HALF-TIME: The penalty just before the break will alter perceptions of the half; Chelsea would have been somewhat fortunate to be going in on level terms, let alone ahead.

The second half is under way.

Lot of mistakes being made by both teams in terms of basic touch. Undoubtedly a hangover from the fact both played on Saturday at 3pm.

Riise drills a shot just wide. Great effort and run from the Norwegian, but the pass with the outside of the foot from Frei to set him up was absolutely divine.

Bad miss Kalou! Lampard whipped the ball in brilliantly and Kalou should have had a better connection… although, to be fair, Riise did very well to put him off. Such an odd player Kalou. You can see there’s talent there and there’s occasionally been excellent application of it… but you just wouldn’t trust him to perform regularly would you?

Mata coming on for Meireles as Chelsea no doubt try to seal this.

Dickson Etuhu comes on for Danny Murphy, who passes the armband over to Brede Hangeland. Interesting that Jol is sacrificing Murphy given that he has a bit of poise. Seems to want more on the end of the crosses from out wide.

Period of Fulham pressure as Fulham ping a series of crosses across the Chelsea box. Ivanovic does well to clear one with the back of his head. This is promising forthe home team. Chelsea seem to be withdrawing.

Clint Desmpey tries one from way out and although it’s  sweetly enough struck  on his left it’s easy for Cech.

GOAL! Fulham 1-1 Chelsea

Who else?! Clint Dempsey! Just moments after Petr Cech denied Aaron Hughes’s effort, he can’t stop Dempsey’s effort. The American guides a header into the bottom corner, which is oddly unmarked by Chelsea. No man on the post for the corner: deserved to be punished.

Disappointing from John Arne Riise. He was put through with Frei inside but dragged the ball out too far wide, allowing Cahill to get across and block. If there’s going to be a winner here, though, it looks much likelier to be Fulham.

Fulham are ripping Chelsea to pieces here. Real desperate, fractious defending from the likes of Cahill and Terry to just keep them at bay.

Three minutes of added time. Chelsea finally got out of their own half there.

Chelsea actually having the better of the stoppage-time period as they perhaps finally realised that a win would go a long way in their Champions League challenge.

FULL-TIME: a bit of confusion at the end as Lampard was brought down at the edge of the box and many thought the referee might have whistled for a foul. Instead, it was full-time. Given Fulham’s form – and especially Clint Dempsey’s – it’s not a bad result for Chelsea. The worry, however, is that they didn’t play particularly well and would have gone ahead of Spurs with a win. Particularly galling will the manner of the goal they conceded, since they left the far post unmarked at a corner. As it stands, though, the race for fourth is very interesting.