This is the opening of a Guardian live blog previewing the Premier League match between Fulham and Chelsea at Craven Cottage, framed as a west London derby between the club's current managers and the last two men to be sacked by Real Madrid. The piece contrasts the modest ambitions facing Fulham's Álvaro Arbeloa, who needs only to maintain the mid-table stability established by predecessor Marco Silva, with the much higher expectations on Chelsea's Xabi Alonso, given the club's wealth and recent underperformance.

The article notes Fulham have finished between 10th and 13th in each of their four seasons since promotion, and that reaching Europe would be a first since 2011-12. Chelsea, despite being described as the ninth richest club in the world, finished tenth last season and missed out on European football, which the piece suggests may actually help Alonso stabilise a squad it rates as potentially the second-strongest in the league behind Arsenal.