Fulham 0-2 Chelsea: Mykhailo Mudryk finally scores as Blues secure first league win since August

Mykhailo Mudryk struck his first goal for Chelsea as the Blues eased some of the pressure on boss Mauricio Pochettino with a 2-0 win at Fulham in a one-sided West London derby.

The £89m Ukraine international opened his account for the visitors on 18 minutes when he fired in Levi Colwill’s delightful pass on his 24th appearance for the club.

Chelsea then doubled their tally within a minute as Armando Broja rewarded his manager’s faith in him in the absence of the suspended Nicolas Jackson, firing in his first goal in just under a year following his recent recovery from a long-term ACL injury.

Fulham improved after the break but still struggled to create much of note with Chelsea almost adding a third past the hour when substitute Ian Maatsen side-footed an effort against the far post.

The result moves Chelsea up to 11th spot with just their second top-flight victory of the season at the seventh time of asking. The Blues are now level on points with a 13th-placed Fulham who are below Pochettino and Co on goal difference.

Chelsea will now hope to build upon the success when they visit Burnley on Saturday, while Fulham host Sheffield United.

Respite for Poch and Co. Prior to this weekend’s action, Chelsea had the second lowest shot-conversion rate in the Premier League. The Blues had yet to win away from home and had not scored in their previous three matches in the top-flight. The stats did not make for good reading but all of that changed as a result of a double blast in two first-half minutes here.

For Pochettino, he will believe the combination of a fine performance and result was coming, but there’s no doubt the longer they failed to deliver, the more pressure he would feel given the club’s vast amount of spending during recent transfer windows.

This was much-needed and the fact it came in a derby and on the back of a solid League Cup win over Brighton means there is now something of a feel-good factor for the Blues to work with. Bigger challenges may await with some tough fixtures on the horizon, but there are signs they are building a slither of momentum.

Armando Broja (Chelsea). The 22-year-old Albanian seized his chance to lead the attack, continually causing panic in the Fulham rearguard with direct, powerful running. There was an element of fortune about his goal but Chelsea desperately need someone to seize the initiative in the attacking third, and perhaps he could be the one to kick-on and help The Blues improve their chance-conversion rate. The away side lost some of their threat when he departed on 63 minutes and Pochettino will hope he was suffering with fatigue rather than any sort of injury issue.

FULHAM: Leno 7, Castagne 6, Diop 6, Ream 6, Robinson 6, Reed 6, Palhinha 6, Pereira 6, Wilson 5, Jimenez 5, Willian 6. Subs: Iwobi 7, Vinicius 7, Cairney 7, Lukic 6

CHELSEA: Sanchez 7, Disasi 7, Silva 7, Colwill 8, Cucurella 7, Gallagher 8, Caicedo 7, Fernandez 7, Mudryk 7, Broja 8*, Palmer 8. Subs: Maatsen 7, Sterling 6, Ugochukwu n/a, Matos n/a, Madueke n/a.

18’ – GOAL! – Fulham1-0 Chelsea. Mudryk collects Colwill’s lovely pass from the left and fires past Leno.

19’ – GOAL! – Fulham 0-2 Chelsea. That’s awful from the home side. They give the ball away at the back, allowing Palmer to feed Broja, who finds the back of the net via Tim Ream’s inadvertent attempt to clear by stabbing the ball against the forward.

63’ – CHELSEA CHANCE! Maatsen’s side-foot strike slaps against the far post from Gallagher’s cut back. Fernandez looks to convert the rebound but Leno is alert and makes a superb block.

78’ – FULHAM CHANCE! Sanchez blocks Lukic’s close-range shot with his feet after a sublime pass from Cairney on the left side of the box.

Fulham are now winless in 10 consecutive Premier League London derbies since beating Chelsea in January (D4, L6).

Mudryk netted his first goal for Chelsea in all competitions (24th appearance and with his 22nd attempt on goal), becoming the first Ukrainian scorer for the Blues since Andriy Shevchenko vs Bolton in May 2008.

Chelsea had failed to score with any of their previous 47 attempts on goal in the Premier League before Mykhailo Mudryk’s opener against Fulham, while there were just 82 seconds between his strike and Armando Broja’s.

Chelsea have picked up their 150th London derby victory in the Premier League, becoming just the second side from the capital to reach this milestone after Arsenal (151 such wins). The Blues were winless in six derby matches heading into tonight (D2 L4).