Roy Hodgson changes turn Craven Cottage into a fortress

Where once the top teams would visit expecting the Whites to roll over and concede victory almost before the opening whistle, now they find that nothing is given freely.

One defeat this season, to West Ham in September, represents a home record bettered only by Liverpool and Manchester United. Chelsea came close to spoiling it yesterday, but Luiz Felipe Scolari's men discovered their near neighbours are now made of stern stuff.

Frank Lampard admitted after the game that when he scored from his 73rd minute free-kick to put Chelsea 2-1 up, he expected Fulham to fade away.

Instead, the goal galvanised them. Having left their first-half urgency in the dressing room at half time, Fulham began pressing again with the tireless Danny Murphy orchestrating from midfield.

Chelsea, lacking the banned John Terry's organisation in defence, were clearly vulnerable to swift attacks. So Hodgson brought on the nippy pairing of Leon Andreasen and Erik Nevland for the more static Dickson Etuhu and Bobby Zamora who had run himself into the ground tracking back and forth.

It was from a move inspired by Nevland that Chelsea conceded the 89th minute corner from which Dempsey headed the equaliser.