Having officially joined Chelsea from Atletico Madrid on a loan deal until the end of the season on Wednesday, it was perhaps surprising that Joao Felix was immediately thrust into the Chelsea starting line-up one day later.
Despite the short notice, Graham Potter named Felix among the starters for the Blues’ Premier League match away to Fulham. With it being a West London derby, tensions were expected to be high, but not many would have expected the Portuguese to be quite so involved early on.
Having had a bright first half against the Cottagers, Felix was shown a straight red card for a horror challenge on Fulham defender Kenny Tete.
That's a horror tackle 😳
João Félix is shown a straight red on his Chelsea debut… pic.twitter.com/jn3MKtoHwn
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 12, 2023
It is a disastrous way to begin his Chelsea career for Felix, who will likely be suspended for the club’s next three league matches. To make matters worse, Fulham went on to win the game 2-1, courtesy of goals from Willian and Carlos Vinicius.
