Chelsea beat its west London neighbours Fulham 1-0 on Saturday thanks to a Cole Palmer penalty that earned the Blues its third Premier League win in a row, even if coach Mauricio Pochettino’s men still looked laboured in front of goal.
Palmer sent Bernd Leno the wrong way with his spot kick in the dying moments of the first half after Raheem Sterling was brought down by Issa Diop’s trailing foot.
It was Palmer’s ninth league goal since joining the Blues from Manchester City as a last-minute summer signing and quickly establishing himself as Chelsea’s most dangerous player.
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He was criticised for missing several chances in Chelsea’s 1-0 League Cup semi-final first leg defeat against Middlesbrough in midweek.
“After the game I was disappointed like anyone would be missing that many chances,” Palmer told broadcaster TNT Sports. “You have those games and I’ve put it behind me and scored.”
Fulham’s best chance for an equaliser fell to Raul Jimenez whose shot forced Djordje Petrovic into a one-handed save in the 73rd minute. Petrovic had also denied Harry Wilson in the first half as the visitors tried to catch their hosts on the break.
Chelsea captain Conor Gallagher smacked the post with a shot from the outside of his boot in the 83rd minute but the final statistics showed the Blues had only three shots on target all game, a reminder of their woes in front of goal.
Armando Broja, only recently back in the side after an injury in the previous campaign, powered a header from an Enzo Fernandez cross just wide of the post in the 21st minute but was largely snuffed out by Fulham’s defence.
With Nicolas Jackson on duty for Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations and Christopher Nkunku injured again, Pochettino will need to find a way back to scoring in time for Middlesbrough’s visit for the second leg of the League Cup semi-final on January 23.
One of the biggest cheers came when Ben Chilwell was sent on from the Chelsea bench, marking the England defender’s return from injury and potentially solving the Blue’s left-back problem which centre half Levi Colwill has struggled to fix.
The win pushed Chelsea up two places in the league table to eighth, above Manchester United and Newcastle United who both have a game in hand over the Blues. Fulham remained 13th, eight points clear of the relegation zone.
Coach Marco Silva said Chelsea defender Malo Gusto should have been sent off for a foul on Willian in the first half.
“We have to talk about the red card for Gusto, it was clear. It is hard to see how things aren’t consistent at the level that we’re at,” he told TNT.
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