Sitting on the bench, Sam took in the atmosphere of this stadium including the elite players that lined up in blue for Chelsea FC.
A few years ago, while still plying his trade for Manchester City, he rembered 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 Palr? 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 ga, Chelsea started the ga 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 ga than in the Liverpool ga, sticking to their football philosophy.
For the first few minutes of the ga, 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 ga in the na of Cole Palr.
Having developed a reputation for himself in the premier league this season already, giving him the nickna Cold Palr, in this premier league ga, the young English midfielder was once again living up to his reputation.
Cole Palr 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 nace.
Anyti 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 ga even as Fulham combated impressively to impose themselves in the ga.
Despite the fact that they played better than in the Liverpool FC ga, Chelsea was still dominating the ga.
Fulham's shining light in this half ca in the forms of Willian and Raul Jinez. 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 tis with Jinez though, setting up the Fulham striker a few tis in good spots as Jinez showed his threat, threatening the Chelsea goal repeatedly.
The only reason why Jinez was not able to get his na 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 mont of madness just before halfti when a Chelsea player was tripped in the box.
FWEEEE!
The referee imdiately blew for a penalty.
Raheem Sterling ca forward, trying to take the ball to take the penalty but Cole Palr 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 Palr'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 sward by his teammates, Cold Palr 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 so 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 ga continued.
There were beliefs in the dia 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 ga 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 ga around.
Despite the 2 experienced players being introduced to the ga, 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 Jinez off for Muniz while introducing Castagne for Tete yet it was not enough for them to turn the ga.
Throughout, from the bench, Sam threw glances at his coach, praying for just one opportunity to enter the ga 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 ga 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'.
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