Chelsea are back to winning ways after they beat Fulham 2-0 in a Premier League match encounter.
Goals from Pedro and Ruben Loftus-Cheek book-ended the west London derby to send Chelsea to third while Fulham remains bottom and next up for them is Ranieri’s former club Leicester.
Chelsea looked dangerous in the opening minutes of the game with their set routine but it was Fulham who had the first shot as Cyrus Christie got forward down the right and forced Kepa into an early save down his right.
It was a risky tactic and did not pay off for Fulham. Denis Odoi played the ball inside to Seri and he had his pocket instantly picked by N’Golo Kante. The Frenchman drove forward in the midfield before releasing the ball again to Pedro at the perfect moment. He chopped inside Mawson and slid his finish to the right of Rico and into the net.
Chelsea had another as Jorginho sprayed a lovely ball over to the left where Hazard was waiting. He jinked inside the exposed Christie and the Belgian released his pass for Giroud, but his shot took a double deflection off him after initially being saved at an acute angle by Rico.
Chelsea went close to getting their second as Mitrovic was struggling to hold the ball up for his side with Rudiger and Luiz in close company. Christie conceded possession to allow Chelsea to come forward as Hazard invited Kovacic to cross but Giroud’s deft flick at the near post was deflected wide.
Giroud thought he was done enough with his touch but he was denied. It was a brilliant save from Rice at his near post to thwart the Frenchman from Azpilicueta’s low cross from the right.
In the second half, Fulham could have been level through Calum Chambers. A corner was delivered and Chambers rose at the near post to force Kepa into a reaction save.
A few minutes later, Kante won a free kick off Seri in a dangerous position. It was in the same range where Luiz fired into the wall but Alonso took the kick. Seri made a routine save as Alonso’s shot went straight to his hands. The Blues had another chance and could have extended their lead to two. Hazard showed great footwork to pounce on a loose ball, but after Rico did brilliantly to make the save low to his right. Morata somehow fired inexplicably over the crossbar and into the row.
There was a brilliant interplay from Hazard and Pedro to start with before Ruben Loftus-Cheek accelerated onto a return pass from Hazard and he slid his shot inside Rico’s left-hand post to mark his 50th Premier League appearance in style.