Chelsea continued their unbeaten start to the Premier League (PL) season with a 2-0 victory over Fulham at Stamford Bridge, a result that means they have now lost just one of their past 12 league games.
It has been another busy week in the transfer window for Chelsea, with Christopher Nkunku joining AC Milan and Nicolas Jackson closing in on a loan move to Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, an imminent new arrival, Alejandro Garnacho, was in the stands to watch his future employers struggle against a well-drilled Fulham outfit during the first 45 minutes. There were early half-chances for João Pedro and Liam Delap, but the latter’s hamstring injury around the quarter-hour mark threw the hosts off-kilter, with the Cottagers subsequently causing plenty of problems.
In fact, they thought they had taken the lead midway through the half when 18-year-old Josh King finished off a counter-attack for what would have been his first PL goal. However, much to the chagrin of Marco Silva, who was apoplectic in his protests, the goal was ruled out as Rodrigo Muniz was judged to have fouled Trevoh Chalobah in the build-up.
As the first half progressed, Chelsea did improve slightly, and only an instinctive Bernd Leno save denied Tyrique George, yet from the resulting corner, Pedro headed Enzo Fernández’s ball home to give the Blues a perhaps undeserved HT lead.
Not long after the restart, VAR was again Silva’s nemesis as Chelsea doubled their lead. Chalobah’s cross hit the raised arm of Ryan Sessegnon and, after a trip to the pitchside monitor, referee Rob Jones pointed to the spot. From 12 yards, Fernández made no mistake to give Enzo Maresca’s men breathing space.
That second strike knocked the stuffing out of Fulham and, had Pedro not been caught in two minds when one-on-one with Leno, the home team’s margin of victory may well have been greater.
Ultimately, the Blues had to make do with just the two goals, but that is enough to temporarily take them to the top of the table. On the other hand, Fulham, and particularly Silva, will feel aggrieved with the manner in which they were defeated by their local rivals. It means they are still waiting for their first win of the season, although this is also their opening loss in all competitions.
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