'The chance from Iwobi' - Marco Silva acknowledges Fulham improved in second half of loss to Chelsea

Fulham missed the chance to move into the top half of the English Premier League table after they were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea in a West London derby on Monday night. 

Alex Iwobi hopped off the bench to replace Harry Wilson eight minutes into the second half, international teammate Calvin Bassey was an unused substitute while Tosin Adarabioyo is sidelined by a groin injury. 

Lesley Ugochukwu and Noni Madueke came off the bench late in the second half for the Blues, while the game came too soon for Carney Chukwuemeka who recently recovered from a knee injury. 

Mykhailo Mudryk, the young Ukrainian,  delivered a goal at last for Chelsea when he opened the scoring in the 18th minute before Armando Broja netted his first goal since returning from a long term injury. 

Chelsea bossed the first half but the second half belonged to Fulham after manager Marco Silva made some tactical tweaks to his side, one of which saw Iwobi replace Harry Wilson. 

The Nigeria playmaker had a chance to reduce the deficit less than two minutes after his introduction but couldn't catch the ball cleanly after a decent cross by Antonee Robinson from the left. 

Speaking post-match, Silva asserted that Fulham improved in the second half after some changes of personnel. 

In quotes relayed by Fulham's official website he said: "Our second half was better. We have created two clear chances and we have to score on one of those.

"The chance from Alex Iwobi and then a massive one from Saša Lukić in the six-yard box to make it 2-1, boost the crowd and go for the game again.

"We had much more of the ball, the biggest difference was most of the time they (Chelsea) decided well and created the chances."

Fulham are sitting 13th in the table with 8 points from the opening seven games in the division, same number of points as Chelsea and Nottingham Forest who have a better goal difference.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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