FORTUNE SWINGS IN SARRI’S FAVOUR
For the sons of socalled Sarri-ball, the transition to life at Chelsea has been far from smooth.
Gonzalo Higuain arrived in January at the behest of Maurizio Sarri and, unable to make an instant impact to justify the expense involved in his transfer, was greeted by home fans at Fulham with chants about his waistline.
Jorginho, the fulcrum of Sarri’s ponderous passing style, has fared even worse. He was booed by Chelsea supporters when he came on as a substitute against Malmo.
He followed this by missing a penalty in the shootout at Wembley in a Carabao Cup final defeat eclipsed by the farce surrounding Kepa Arrizabalaga.
This, however, was a day for redemption by the river Thames. Kepa returned to the side to produce some splendid saves, including a crucial late one to deny Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Meanwhile, Higuain pounced for the opener and Jorginho, outstanding for an hour, claimed the winner and heard Chelsea fans singing his name when he was replaced by Mateo Kovacic.
‘I am very, very happy for him because he scored but my opinion about Jorginho is the same,’ Sarri said. ‘He’s a very great player, one of the most important in Europe in that position. It is not easy, a first season in this football with a new team.’
The Chelsea manager might wonder if fortune is starting to swing in his favour. Perhaps not enough to keep him in the job for the long term, but Sarri’s team are firmly in touch with the top four and still in the Europa League.
His brief was to get the club back into the Champions League and two routes remain open. ‘We are fighting,’ Sarri said.
Fulham, on the other hand, seem doomed, although strangely content to be playing with a sense of adventure once again under caretaker boss Scott Parker.
They were cheered off after a first half when they might have conceded six, and again at the end having almost fought back to take a point.
There was evidence of the old Fulham fluency, a hallmark of the promotion campaign and their undoing in the Premier League. As under Slavisa Jokanovic, their promotion-winning coach, they threatened at one end and haemorrhaged glorious chances at the other. A pleasingly carefree mood was briefly enhanced by Kevin McDonald, who played for 10 minutes in the first half with his ripped shirt whistling in the wind like the Incredible Hulk’s.
Jorginho thrived on the turnover of possession in midfield and Chelsea went ahead on the counter when Higuain converted skilfully at the near post from a cross by full back Cesar Azplicueta.
It was his third Chelsea goal and the first for a month. He might easily have celebrated a first-half hat-trick. Higuain headed wide early on, then missed the target wastefully when clean through, picked out by Jorginho as he timed his run perfectly behind Fulham’s central defenders.
In stoppage time at the end of the first half, he was denied a carbon- copy of the first goal by goalkeeper Sergio rico, who made a brilliant save.
Kepa fumbled at the feet of ryan Babel but escaped because Babel was unable to locate the ball before the keeper had recovered.
He then produced a magnificent reflex save to push over a volley from Mitrovic, but the respite was brief as Fulham equalised from the corner, taken short to Babel, who found Calum Chambers alone at the back post to score on the volley.
Three minutes later, Chelsea were ahead again, through Jorginho.
Fulham were unhappy because they thought the counter-attack started with a foul by the scorer on Joe Bryan — but the offence was not clear and certainly was not given by referee Graham Scott, and Chelsea took advantage.
Jorginho’s finish into the top corner, from a pass by Eden Hazard, was crisp and accurate, everything his penalty in the Wembley final shootout was not.
Chelsea ought to have won it in the first half, and their nerves were punished as Fulham produced a more coherent performance in the second half.
There were chances and saves at both ends and ryan Sessegnon thought he had scored a leveller in stoppage time, only to find it ruled out for offside.
This breathless derby belonged to Sarri and the sons of Sarri-ball.