The Chelsea football club's faltering title challenge suffered another blow when they were held to a 1-all draw by neighbours Fulham in this morning's early kickoff at Stamford Bridge to register their third successive draw in the Premier League.
They took the lead through Juan Mata who lashed in a left-foot shot after 47 minutes but Fulham, who have not won at Chelsea since 1979, equalised with a close-range Clint Dempsey goal nine minutes later.
The visitors played the better football for the rest of the match and left with a well-earned point.
Since beating leaders Manchester City on December the 12th, Chelsea have drawn at Wigan Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur and this morning's result left them in fourth place on 34 points from 18 games -- 10 behind City.
