Goals from Pedro
and Ruben Loftus-Cheek at either end of the match were enough to see
Chelsea past Fulham in a 2-0 win in the West London Derby.
Fulham's
second half performance troubled Chelsea but were unable to avoid
defeat against their local rivals on Claudio Ranieri's return to
Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea climb above Tottenham after they lost at Arsenal, while Fulham remain rock bottom and without a clean sheet all season.
Maurizio
Sarri was criticised for his use of N'Golo Kante after last week's
defeat at Spurs, but it was his work high up the pitch that helped give
Chelsea the lead. The midfielder robbed Jean Michael Seri of possession
and played in Pedro, who finished calmly from close range after four
minutes.
Calum Chambers had Fulham's best chance of the first half
with a speculative effort from 20 yards, but it was pushed away by Kepa
Arrizabalaga.
At the other end, Olivier Giroud was slipped
through by Eden Hazard, but he took the ball too wide and Sergio Rico
saved from a tight angle.
The France striker had another chance to
double the lead after Chelsea won possession high up the pitch again,
but was unable to get a touch on Mateo Kovacic's low cross.
Ranieri
brought on Aboubakar Kamara for Ryan Sessegnon and Floyd Ayite for
Stefan Johansen at halftime in an attempt to liven up his side's
performance.
Fulham started to look more dangerous following their
double substitution, and nearly forced Antonio Rudiger into conceding
an own goal from Cyrus Christie's cross, before Chambers' header was
saved from the following corner.
Chambers had another stinging effort denied by Arrizabalaga as Fulham continued to crank up the pressure.
Alvaro
Morata had a great chance to seal the win for Chelsea after 73 minutes,
but his rebound from Hazard's initial shot was wayward.
Ruben
Loftus-Cheek came off the bench to make sure of the points after 83
minutes, as Chelsea returned to winning ways in the Premier League.
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