With our pre-match preparation already well underway upon his arrival at Cobham on Tuesday, the new Blues head coach watched on from the stands as our Under-21s boss, Calum McFarlane, led the team for the second game in succession.

The Blues had started well and twice came close to opening the scoring. Then came a suckerpunch. As our players retreated following a corner, Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno arrowed a pass into the Chelsea half and Marc Cucurella and Harry Wilson chased after it.

As they dueled for possession, Wilson went down on the edge of our penalty area and referee Peter Bankes felt Cucurella had denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. The Spaniard was sent off with 22 minutes on the clock.

Fulham, unbeaten in their previous five Premier League matches, were restricted until ten minutes into the second half when Raul Jimenez headed home. Yet Chelsea did not fold and we began to build pressure in the Fulham half despite our man disadvantage.

That pressure told with 18 minutes remaining as a Pedro Neto corner was glanced against his own post by Antonee Robinson and Liam Delap was on hand to score his first Premier League goal for the Blues.

Unfortunately, there was another twist as a deflected Wilson shot put Fulham back ahead as full-time approached. It was a blow from which we couldn't recover.

Our match gallery below recaps a frustrating trip to Craven Cottage.