Chelsea's £88million January signing Mykhailo Mudryk made his first start for the club on Friday evening after a short cameo against Liverpool a fortnight ago. The Ukrainian was handed a place in the Blues front three alongside Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz by Graham Potter.
On the back of back-to-back clean sheets and a fortnight on the training ground, Chelsea failed to find a breakthrough against Marco Silva's Fulham side. Potter's new-look starting XI included three new arrivals, including £105m Enzo Fernandez, but they struggled to cause much trouble for their London rivals.
Havertz had the game's best opportunity towards the end of the first half with his chip over Bernd Leno rebounding off the post. But at half-time, Mudryk was substituted off in place of fellow winter arrival Noni Madueke.
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The 22-year-old had not featured since the end of November before signing for the west Londoners. After Chelsea hijacked Arsenal's move for him, concerns over his fitness were highlighted and were once again pointed out last night.
There was no indication of a possible injury concern with Sky Sports' Gary Neville hinting that the move could be for tactical reasons. Madueke is much more direct and tends to drive at defenders whilst Chelsea's aimed to feed Mudryk in-behind the Fulham defence.
However, Potter ruled out an injury to his new winger and explained why he was brought off. Asked if he was injured, Potter said: "No, he's had a heavy cold all week. We thought 60 would be his maximum but he felt heavy-legged at half time.
"We're still building him up in terms of his minutes because of the break he has had in his season so we thought 45 was about right for him."
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