LONDON: Chelsea bounced back from their first Premier League defeat of the season to see off local rivals Fulham 2-0 on Sunday, with goals from Pedro and Ruben Loftus-Cheek putting the gloss on a mixed performance.
The home side dominated possession at Stamford Bridge and scored early through Spanish forward Pedro but struggled to find their rhythm and looked shaky until substitute Loftus-Cheek settled their nerves with a late second. Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri enjoyed a dream start to his tenure in England but a chastening 3-1 defeat to Tottenham last week stung him badly, prompting a series of post-mortems with individual players.
Sunday’s hard-fought win lifted Chelsea into third place above Spurs, in action against Arsenal later in the day.
The home side, welcoming former manager Claudio Ranieri back to Stamford Bridge in the Fulham dugout, were quickly into their stride against their neighbours and were ahead inside four minutes.
N’Golo Kante — publicly criticised by his manager for his positioning in the match against Spurs — was instrumental in the opening goal, dispossessing Jean Michael Seri in the middle of the pitch and feeding the ball to Pedro on the right side of the penalty box.
The winger stepped inside onto his left foot and fired the ball into the far corner. (AFP)
