Chelsea 0 - 0 Fulham: Another draw and more boos for Benitez

Three days after Benitez’s first game in charge of the Blues saw him endure a savage reception from his new club’s supporters, he was unable to turn the jeers into cheers as they slipped further off the pace in the Barclays Premier League.

And, as on Sunday against Manchester City, they could have  easily lost against a Fulham side who had the better of the chances and a striker in Dimitar Berbatov who completely outshone opposite number Fernando Torres.

By the end of a frustrating evening for Chelsea fans, they were back to chanting, “You’re not welcome here”, at Benitez and even, “We want our Chelsea back”, in front of the watching owner Roman Abramovich, who looked as bored as anyone at Stamford Bridge.

As he entered the field, Benitez was spared the cacophony of boos that greeted his introduction on Sunday, probably because this time there was no introduction. Instead, there was what might be described as a conspiracy of silence from the home fans, with nearly all of the noise coming from the away end for a good 15 minutes.

The Fulham fans mocked the lack of atmosphere, which only improved with a chorus of, “There’s only one Di Matteo”.

There was certainly no football to shout about as Chelsea toiled to cut open their impressively-organised opponents.

There was not enough width from the home side to pull them out of position and not enough tempo to get through the middle, despite the best efforts of Eden Hazard. David Luiz’s skied free-kick was the first shot at goal after 25 minutes, the creativity of the rested Juan Mata becoming more and more conspicuous by its absence.

Chelsea could have fallen behind twice in quick succession inside ten minutes of the second half, an errant offside flag rescuing them after Berbatov perfectly timed his run on to Mahamadou Diarra’s flighted ball, and Petr Cech saving from John Arne Riise following a flowing breakaway. Thankfully for Benitez, his team at least took a point.

Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic,  Luiz, Cole, Romeu, Ramires, Hazard (Marin 82), Oscar, Bertrand (Mata 63), Torres.  Subs not used: Turnbull, Mikel, Moses, Ferreira, Cahill.

Fulham: Schwarzer, Riether, Senderos, Hughes, Riise, Duff, Diarra (Baird 64), Sidwell, Karagounis (Frei 73), Rodallega (Petric 83), Berbatov. Subs not used: Etheridge, Kelly, Kasami, Dejagah.