FA Premiership/ Fulham 1 Chelsea 0: Jose Mourinho has enjoyed plenty of memorable days as the Chelsea manager but this is one he would prefer to forget. A Sunday that began with him feeling obliged to deny that he has fallen out with Roman Abramovich and will leave Stamford Bridge over the summer ended with defeat and a red card at a jubilant Craven Cottage that came worryingly close to witnessing serious crowd trouble amid the celebrations that followed.
Scores of Fulham supporters invaded the pitch to celebrate a first win over their neighbours for 27 years and matters briefly threatened to turn ugly when Chelsea fans broke from their stand. There were minor skirmishes before police and stewards brought the situation under control. Fulham can expect to be fined by the English FA for having inadequate security, and there looks set to be disciplinary action against Chelsea for separate matters.
Half a dozen or so of their players surrounded one of the referee's assistants to protest William Gallas's justified late dismissal for stamping on Heidar Helguson, and the defender could be asked to explain why he walked off giving thumbs downs to the home crowd. Mourinho, meanwhile, may be brought to book for suggesting the authorities are biased against Chelsea.
Chelsea have already been charged by the FA for their players' behaviour at West Bromwich Albion this month, but Mourinho does not expect Fulham to be taken to task for their players rushing to complain to the referee Mike Dean after Didier Drogba scored an "equaliser" that was soon disallowed for handball. Mourinho said the officials cancelled that effort because of "pressure" from Fulham, though the referee denied that.
"You see for Chelsea one measure and for other teams another measure," Mourinho claimed. "There's no doubt about that . . . In West Brom-Chelsea I have the final proof about that. Bryan Robson is Bryan Robson and Jose Mourinho is Jose Mourinho; we are not the same."
Mourinho ought to be more concerned about a third defeat in eight matches. The manager was so upset with the dismal way his players started that he took off Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips in the 26th minute, blanking both and with Cole throwing tracksuit trousers to the floor in his disappointment.
Drogba's introduction provided two strikers and Ricardo Carvalho then came on at the interval but no amount of tinkering could bring an equaliser. Chelsea dominated the second half and had chances despite lacking invention. Frank Lampard shot over and Mark Crossley saved in stoppage-time from John Terry.
It was difficult to begrudge Fulham this win. They had been the more dangerous team before the interval with an intensity that Chelsea did not initially match. They closed down to deny their opponents time, with Mark Pembridge and Michael Brown impressing, and Steed Malbranque did an excellent job not only in preventing Claude Makelele and others from getting Chelsea moves flowing but with his spurts in attack. Liam Rosenior and Ian Pearce stood up well in defence.
When Drogba thought he had scored, it was disallowed because he had used a hand to move the ball past Zat Knight before sliding it into the net. Fulham players reacted furiously and Mourinho, while acknowledging it was a handball, said: "The referee didn't see it. The linesman didn't see it also, gave a goal and after that they couldn't resist the pressure of Fulham players and that's a big problem."
Dean said the linesman had not indicated an infringement from the far side because he was much further from the incident but had buzzed him. After consultation, a free-kick was awarded. "He was convinced it was handball and I have seen on TV that we got the big decision of the game right," Dean said.
"It's good that we have got technology on our arm and I think we should get a bit of credit."
The game's decisive moment came when Malbranque's mis-hit shot deflected off Lampard and through the legs of Huth. Paulo Ferreira struck the ball against Luis Boa Morte, who was in the process of shooting.
