Chelsea 1 - 1 Fulham

Stamford Bridge proved anything but a sanctuary for Chelsea yesterday as their Barclays Premier League title hopes suffered another damaging blow in the west London derby.

A game manager Andre Villas-Boas had hand picked for Fernando Torres to rebuild his shattered confidence proved another nightmare outing for the £50 million man.

This was also meant to be the match where Chelsea got their championship challenge back on track after two 1-1 draws away from home in a row. However, they completed a hat-trick.

Torres, making his first league start for almost two months, did inadvertently lay on Juan Mata’s 46th-minute opener, but Clint Dempsey equalised nine minutes later before Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale kept Chelsea at bay.

Torres, whose goal drought stretched back nine matches, had been hoping for a Boxing Day gift from a side that shipped five against Manchester United on Wednesday and who were without the injured Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson.

Fulham had other ideas, determined to spoil Chelsea’s title hopes, they frustrated the home side’s first-half advances.

Torres’ travails looked to have continued after the restart but the striker helped break the deadlock inside two minutes.

The Spaniard failed to control Ashley Cole’s cross but the ball fell perfectly for Mata to sweep home left footed from the edge of the box.

Fulham had only scored four league goals away from home all season, the worst record in the top flight, but they were soon level with a superbly-worked goal.

The ball found its way to Bryan Ruiz on the right, who tricked his way past Cole and crossed for Dempsey to stab past Petr Cech.