Mykhailo Mudryk ended his long wait for a Chelsea goal as Mauricio Pochettino’s side earned their second Premier League win of the season by beating Fulham 2-0 on Monday night.
Ukraine winger Mudryk showed great close control and finished clinically before Armando Broja netted his first goal since October last year to seal the points midway through the first half.
Fulham rallied and looked more capable of challenging the Blues in the second half but couldn’t find a route back into the match.
Broja, plugged into the gap vacated by the suspended Nicolas Jackson up front, showed some encouraging signs early on by powering behind the Fulham defence. A wild shot ended up in the crowd before a belated offside flag was raised.
The Blues started smoothly in attack and worked a similar opening when good work from Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez allowed Mudryk to drift towards the centre of the box. However, his effort landed in a similar spot at Craven Cottage to Broja’s earlier strike.
Fulham struggled to match Chelsea early on and their sloppy start cost them dear as the visitors raced into a two-goal lead with only 71 seconds between the strikes.
Mudryk delivered on his early threat by collecting Levi Colwill’s pinpoint cross and sliding his finish past Cottagers stopper Bernd Leno, netting his first goal for Chelsea since his mega-money arrival back in January.
For a Chelsea side that hadn’t scored in the Premier League since 25 August, their next goal came alarming quickly as Fulham dithered at the back.
USMNT defender Tim Ream was at fault, first giving a sloppy pass straight to Palmer which allowed Broja to run towards goal. Ream got to Palmer’s resulting cross first but could only cannon it off Broja and into the back of the net.
Fulham attempted to press aggressively through Andreas Pereira and Harrison Reed but Mudryk was frequently available on Chelsea’s right and it was Pochettino’s side who continued to enjoy more of the chances.
Another awful pass from the back, this time from Issa Diop, was pounced upon by Enzo Fernandez who fed Palmer with a precise ball in behind. However, the winger dallied before Fernandez thumped wide from the edge of the box.
Mudryk then powered past Timothy Castagne again out wide but his cut-back was diverted away from danger by the alert Leno.
Fulham’s limited threat in the first half meant their first attempt on goal only came in the 41st minute. A Pereira corner was attacked by Raul Jimenez, searching for his first goal for his new club since leaving Wolves, but his header sailed safely past the far post.
Mudryk was forced off at half-time after collecting an injury and replacement Ian Maatsen went close to making it 3-0 just after the hour mark.
The Dutchman arrived on the end of a flowing move but his away-swinging shot with his left foot struck the post before the follow-up from Fernandez was well smothered by Leno.
Chelsea’s attention turned towards seeing out the result during the second half as Fulham attempted to find a route back into the game.
Substitute Alex Iwobi did well to create space and cross towards Carlos Vinicius, but the Brazilian couldn’t generate any power on his header and the largely untested Robert Sanchez was able to collect.
Spaniard Sanchez was then required to boot away an effort on goal from Sasa Lukic when the Fulham substitute ought to have scored.
The game limped towards the full-time whistle as a poor night’s work from Fulham came to an end. Chelsea leapfrogged their west London rivals in the Premier League table with the victory, sitting 11th with the Cottagers down in 13th.
