Chelsea continued their exciting run of form in the premier league on Saturday evening, beating Fulham by two unreplied goals, courtesy of much criticized summer signing, Kai Havertz who bagged a brace.
With the second leg of their Champions League tie against Real Madrid on his mind, Thomas Tuchel made four changes to team that played in midweek, starting Reece James, Kourt Zouma Gilmour and Hakim Ziyech in place of Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, Jorginho and, American, Pulisic.
Scott Parker decided to name an unchanged side from the team that drew with Arsenal last weekend.
Eduoard Mendy was called into action within the first five minutes of the encounter. Robertson stole the ball off eventual hero of the day, Kai Havertz from the middle of the park, before making an amazing run to unleash a shot which was parried away for a corner kick by Eduoard Mendy.
Almost turning villain some minutes earlier, Havertz gave Chelsea the lead in the 10th minute of the game. Mason Mount collected a beautiful pass over the top from the back, before beating his marker and sliding a pass through to Havertz, who beautifully slotted home.
Havertz was having a time of his life and would have been rejoicing at his second of the evening in the 17th minute after he finished a pass from Mason Mount but his goal was correctly ruled out for offside, having made his run a split second earlier.
Eduoard Mendy had to be on his toes to keep out Ademola Lookman's effort in the 23rd minute after Chelsea failed to clear their lines from a set piece. The Chelsea goalkeeper has now kept 23 cleans sheets in 38 games for the Blues.
A fine afternoon the hosts were having and almost found the second of the game with six minutes before the interval, but Areola did well to save Hakim Ziyech's effort from a Timo Werner's cross after a quick transition from defence into attack by Chelsea.
Needing to get one over Chelsea in a long time, Fulham had a glorious opportunity at the death of the first half when the ball fell gracefully to former Chelsea boy, Ola Aina. His effort took a huge deflection that almost caught Mendy off guard. But being in sterling form, the Senegalese shot-stopper was quick to readjust and make a save.
The hosts led into the break.
Chelsea started the second half on top like they did the first half.
Having been denied earlier, Kai Havertz finally got his second of the game after playing a sleek one-two with Werner on the edge of the Fulham box. VAR had to check to ensure Havertz was not in an offside position in the build up. The goal would stand and three savory points in the bag for Chelsea.
The win meant Chelsea continue their effort to cement a place in the top four, going two points behind Leicester City in third who drew 1-1 against 10-men Southampton on Friday, six and seven points clear off West Ham and Liverpool respectively.
Fulham are still looking for their first win against Chelsea in 30 games, a stretch that has been on as far back as 2006.
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