Half-time: Fulham 0 Chelsea 0

Fernando Torres had Chelsea’s best chances as the west London derby remained goalless at half-time.

The Spaniard, making his first league start in over a month in place of Samuel Eto’o, pounced on a mistake by Maarten Stekelenburg and fizzed a shot just wide of the far post before testing the Fulham keeper again with a volley just before the break.

Whites midfielder Steve Sidwell sliced an effort that wasn’t far off the target moments earlier, as a much improved Fulham enjoyed the better of the opening period.

On-loan forward Clint Dempsey, making his final appearance before returning to Seattle Sounders, also went close for Fulham when he headed wide from Pajtim Kasami’s cross early on.

But the Whites lost captain Brede Hangeland just 15 minutes into the game after he appeared to clash heads with team-mate Kieran Richardson, forcing the Norwegian to be replaced by Dan Burn.

New Fulham boss Felix Magath dropped Lewis Holtby to the bench, despite the German impressing since joining on loan from Tottenham, and restored Darren Bent, Kasami and Dempsey to the starting line-up.

Meanwhile, Blues manager Jose Mourinho handed starts to Ramires and Andre Schurrle, as well as Torres, all of whom featured in the midweek Champions League stalemate with Galatasaray.

Fulham: Stekelenburg; Riether, Hangeland, Heitinga, Richardson; Dejagah, Parker, Sidwell, Dempsey; Kasami, Bent.
Subs: Stockdale, Riise, Burn, Kvist, Holtby, Karagounis, Rodallega.

Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard; Torres.
Subs: Schwarzer, Cole, Luiz, Mikel, Lampard, Willian, Ba.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook