Rise of a Football God

Sitting on the bench, Sam took in the atmosphere of this stadium including the elite players that lined up in blue for Chelsea FC.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

A few years ago, while still plying his trade for Manchester City, he remembered Raheem Sterling being one of the best wingers in the world.

The now Chelsea forward's output in front of goal may have reduced a lot, but he was still one of the fastest dribblers in the whole world.

And Cole Palmer? Despite the fact that this was his debut season for Chelsea FC, the young attacking midfielder was having a terrific season already.

Sam clenched his fists tightly. 'I'll get to his level soon enough'.

The Chelsea midfield was anchored by the reliable presence of a world cup-winning midfielder in Enzo Fernandez, alongside the tenacious Moises Caicedo.

It was a strong lineup, Sam wondered how his teammates would fare.

As soon as the whistle went off though, he knew.

FWEEEE!

As soon as the referee's whistle sounded to kickstart the game, Chelsea started the game on the front foot but the domination was lesser than Sam expected. His teammates didn't buckle before their superior opponents.

Despite playing in one of the most iconic stadiums in the world, against superior opponents, the Fulham FC team managed to play a much-improved game than in the Liverpool game, sticking to their football philosophy.

For the first few minutes of the game, a few players shone as the stand-out players already. The midfield duo of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo impressed, helping Chelsea dominate the midfield battle.

And progressing forward, a young player stole all the plaudits for the first few minutes of this game in the name of Cole Palmer.

Having developed a reputation for himself in the premier league this season already, giving him the nickname Cold Palmer, in this premier league game, the young English midfielder was once again living up to his reputation.

Cole Palmer was torturing the Fulham FC defense.

His vision was incredible, consistently splitting the Fulham defense open with defense splitting passes only for Broja, the starting striker for Chelsea FC to fluff his lines, missing chance after chance.

On the left-hand side, despite the fact that he was far less effective than his counterpart on the right, Raheem Sterling was also being a menace.

Anytime the ball touched his leg, this silky winger was electric, going on mazy runs as he dribbled through multiple players.

If only his mazy runs had an end product, he would be the best player of this game even as Fulham combated impressively to impose themselves in the game.

Despite the fact that they played better than in the Liverpool FC game, Chelsea was still dominating the game.

Fulham's shining light in this half came in the forms of Willian and Raul Jimenez. The left winger was once again being electric, torturing Malo Gusto at a worrying consistency down the Chelsea left hand side.

Experience tales at empire

The only thing was that just like Raheem Sterling, he lacked the end product.

He showed impressive chemistry at times with Jimenez though, setting up the Fulham striker a few times in good spots as Jimenez showed his threat, threatening the Chelsea goal repeatedly.

The only reason why Jimenez was not able to get his name on the scoresheet yet and open the scoring was because of the presence of the reliable Chelsea stalwart, the ageless Brazilian legend, Thiago Silva.

Despite being 39 years old already, this center back showed that age was just a number as he was comfortably head and shoulders above every other Chelsea defender, locking out the Fulham forwards.

The first half was mostly frustrating for both teams until a moment of madness just before halftime when a Chelsea player was tripped in the box.

FWEEEE!

The referee immediately blew for a penalty.

Raheem Sterling came forward, trying to take the ball to take the penalty but Cole Palmer refused to hand it over, stepping forward to take the penalty kick to the ire of the Chelsea left winger.

Taking penalties were part of Cole Palmer's duties since he was the designated Chelsea penalty taker, and he didn't want to leave the opportunity to Raheem Sterling just because he was a senior player.

As soon as the referee's whistle blew again, the young English midfielder took a breath before doing a short run and shooting the ball into the net.

The goalkeeper dived towards the other side, letting the ball nestle confidently in the left side of the post.

"GOALLLL…!" The Chelsea fans erupted with loud roars of jubilation.

Running towards the corner flag even as he was swarmed by his teammates, Cold Palmer did his already iconic chill cold celebration.

The Chelsea fans felt on top of the moon.

The first half ended 1-0 in Chelsea FC's favor.

In the dressing room, a furious Marco Silva went on a rant as he berated a few of his players' performance in the first half.

While the coach ranted, Sam stared at him, hoping for some reaction but the coach stayed stubborn. He made no changes for the second half.

When second half started, Fulham FC improved but just a bit as Chelsea's firm grip on the game continued.

There were beliefs in the media that Chelsea's main problem this season was goalscoring. Once they got the goal though, the Chelsea team was deep and compact enough to protect their lead.

In the second half, Fulham hustled and struggled to no avail, trying everything in their repertoire to get the equalizing goal.

Their relentless attack only opened them up to devastating counterattacks from the rampant Chelsea forwards which still didn't yield much fruit.

As the game wore on, desperate, Marco Silva finally made changes, a double change as he removed Wilson and Paulinha, putting De Cordova-Reid and Alex Iwobi in their place to try turning the game around.

Despite the 2 experienced players being introduced to the game, the Chelsea team refused to give an inch, barely giving the Fulham forwards a sniff at goal.

At the 80th minute, even more desperate now, Marco Silva made 2 more changes, taking Jimenez off for Muniz while introducing Castagne for Tete yet it was not enough for them to turn the game.

Throughout, from the bench, Sam threw glances at his coach, praying for just one opportunity to enter the game yet the manager never looked in his direction.

In the end, the score line didn't change.

After 90 minutes plus additional minutes by the referee, the premier league game in Stamford Bridge ended 1-0 in Chelsea FC's favor.

Sam never got the chance to play even a single minute.

He sighed. 'Today is not my day'.