Another West London derby takes centre stage at the early kick off this weekend in the Premier League with both Chelsea and Fulham set to battle at Stamford Bridge after losses in their midweek Carabao Cup semi-final first leg games.
Chelsea met with Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Tuesday night, and a first half goal from Boro gives them a 1-0 advantage heading to London in two weeks. The Blues were once again completely off the boil against Middlesbrough during the week and with only four shots on target that day, there is not much evidence to suggest that Mauricio Pochettino's men will get the job done and head through into the final of the EFL Cup.
Things continue to get worse for the former Tottenham Hotspur boss in the Premier League as well, although they did ease past Preston North End in the FA Cup last weekend with a 4-0 battering over the Championship side.
Armando Broja got the ball rolling that day with a thumping header before Thiago Silva as tapped in a header from a corner minutes later. A Raheem Sterling free kick was the pick of the bunch three minutes after Silva's goal, as Enzo Fernandez got back amongst the goals with a finish.
Back in the Premier League, however, Chelsea are only above their close neighbours by four points in the table and remain a stunning 12 points adrift of the Champions League spots. The Blues are in 10th right now, and almost as close to relegation as they are to the top four, with a gap of 13 on the bottom three. Pochettino's men have put together a two-game winning run recently in the league, however, but they edged past both Crystal Palace and Luton Town in those games by a mere goal.
As for Fulham, they went 1-0 up at Anfield during the week but fell 2-1 down and now head back to Craven Cottage trailing Liverpool in the semi-finals. Fulham are nine points above relegation after a stunning win over Arsenal on New Year's Eve, and they matched this result with a victory over Rotherham United in the FA Cup third round last weekend that saw Bobby De Cordova-Reid score for the second game running.