Chelsea lost more ground in their challenge to regain the Barclays Premier League crown on the evening of Monday 14th February 2011 as they were held to a 0-0 draw by West London rivals Fulham, at Craven Cottage.
It could have been much worse for the visitors, however, as their goalkeeper, Petr Cech, saved a last minute penalty from Clint Dempsey to prevent Fulham from winning their fourth home league match in succession, and ensure the points were shared.
Fulham, going into this match, had kept three clean sheets in a row at home, and, despite Chelsea starting with £50million striker, Fernando Torres, up-front, they failed to score over the course of another match – they were held scoreless against Liverpool last time out, too.
Both goalkeepers, Mark Schwarzer for Fulham, and Cech for Chelsea, were arguably the best players on the pitch in what was an even contest, however, Chelsea had by far the most possession and opportunities in front of goal, most of which missed the target, with Torres, again, proving to be out-of-sorts in the final third.
Fulham now sit third in the league, and, on the evidence of this performance, might expect to be in the top half of the table come the end of the season.
Chelsea are now outside of the top four Champions League places, two points behind Spurs who are fourth, and four behind Manchester City, who are third: any more dropped points and they look in serious danger of going from Champions to UEFA Europa League places in one season.