Clint Dempsey of Fulham scores a goal to level the scores at 1-1 despites the attentions of David Luiz and Petr Cech of Chelsea during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge on December 26, 2011 in London, England.

Chelsea's faltering title challenge suffered another blow when it was held to a 1-1 draw by neighbor Fulham in yesterday's early kickoff at Stamford Bridge to register its third successive draw in the Premier League.

The second half had started well for fourth-place Chelsea with the deadlock broken inside two minutes. Fernando Torres, on a rare start for Chelsea, failed to control Ashley Cole's cross but the ball fell perfectly for Juan Mata to sweep home left footed from the edge of the penalty area after 47 minutes.

Fulham, which has not won at Chelsea since 1979, equalized with a close-range Clint Dempsey goal nine minutes later.

Bryan Ruiz tricked his way past Cole and crossed to Dempsey, who stabbed the ball past Peter Cech in the 57th minute.

The visitors played the better football for the rest of the match and left the Bridge with a well-earned point.

Fulham scored just its fifth away goal this season.

Since beating leader Manchester City on December 12, Chelsea has drawn at Wigan Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur and yesterday's result left it in fourth place on 34 points from 18 games - 10 behind City.

City is in action later yesterday at West Bromwich Albion in a busy Boxing Day holiday program when second-placed Manchester United hosts Wigan.

Tottenham Hotspur, which is third, visits Norwich City tomorrow.

City leads with 44 points from 17 games ahead of United which has 42 with Spurs on 35 plus and a match in hand on the top two.

While yesterday's result was a bad one for Chelsea, it was a good point for Fulham which responded well after losing 0-5 to Manchester United on Wednesday. It stays on 13th in the standings.