Fulham 0-2 Chelsea: Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja strike one minute apart as Mauricio Pochettino’s men finally find their cutting edge

• Mykhailo Mudryk finally scored his first competitive goal for the club midway through the first half
• Armando Broja, returning to the starting XI for the first time in 11 months, doubled the lead one minute later

This felt like a derby only in terms of its geography. Just 1.5 miles separate the clubs and even after this result the only difference in the League table is in the goal difference column. Nevertheless, in terms of what we saw on the field, Chelsea were superior by a distance.

It is not often we have said that about Chelsea this season, or indeed at all in recent times. We certainly could not say that after losses against Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and West Ham.

But here, belatedly but also just in time to stop a growing feeling of crisis, Mauricio Pochettino’s team resembled a decent side once again. Not spectacular or flamboyant. And not always expansive. But purposeful, superior and more than competent. On this occasion and in these trying Chelsea times, it was enough.

Chelsea dominated the play and the chances. Indeed Fulham only had one, substitute Sasa Lukic denied by Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal with 10 minutes left. Cole Palmer, signed recently from Manchester City, was the game’s best player and its best passer. Some capture the 21-year-old may yet transpire to be.

But it was the identity of the two goal scorers that may yet prove most significant of all. The first, in the 18th minute, was the Mykhailo Mudryk. Signed for £85million in January, Mudryk has been less disappointing and more invisible since. This was his very first goal.

Then, 82 seconds later and after a mistake by Fulham captain Tim Ream, Armando Broja scored his team’s second. Broja’s problems have not been of form but of fitness. The 22-year-old has struggled with a knee injury and this was only his first goal in a year and indeed only his first start since last November.

As for Fulham, they were never really at it. They can be better than this. Marco Silva’s team lack a focal point now that Aleksandar Mitrovic is playing in Saudi Arabia but that was not the only thing wrong. They were not competitive enough early on — conceding a chance to Chelsea in the very first minute — and by the time they improved they were a goal down.

Chelsea’s problems had run deep this season. Not enough goals had bled quickly into not enough points. It’s a potentially damaging combination. Here, they had Broja to look to and he gave them a focal point at the top of their formation.

The Albanian — born in Slough and first football educated at Tottenham — could have scored in just the first minute. Played clear on goal, the 22-year-old certainly didn’t panic. Taking his time to shift the ball past goalkeeper Bernd Leno, Broja also waited until three defenders had committed themselves. Sadly, he then shot high and wide from about 12 yards.

A miss totally in keeping with Chelsea’s difficult season, for once it did not set the tone for the evening. Pochettino’s team were vastly superior to their neighbours in terms of possession and territory and they pressed Fulham back until they eventually broke through twice in the 18th and 19th minutes.

The first goal was lovely, Levi Colwill’s cross from the left good enough to arc over the head of Fulham’s Issa Diop and on to Mudryk’s chest. Diop should have done better. He seemed to jump too early. When the ball dropped to Mudryk he controlled it beautifully on his chest before stroking it first time under the advancing Leno.

Chelsea were dangerous and full of running at this stage. Fulham, by contrast, were nowhere near the levels required.

In the Chelsea midfield young Cole Palmer was influential, eager to get on the ball, turn and make good passes.

Here he was involved in a second goal that was calamitous from Fulham’s point of view. Stretching to intercept Tim Ream’s pass out from the back, Palmer collected possession, played Broja through and watched as Ream’s attempted tackle only struck his opponent and rebounded into the goal.

For Fulham it felt like a hammer blow. For Chelsea it felt like the start of their season.

There were other half-chances for the visiting team — Enzo Fernandez shooting over after another move started by Palmer — while Fulham struggled to create a thing. A header wide from a corner by Raul Jimenez their only real chance of the first half.

Fulham were a little better in the second half and the introduction of substitutes Alex Iwobi and Carlos Vinicius helped them in terms of physical presence — even if Vinicius was fortunate to escape serious punishment when appearing to deliberately clump Thiago Silva round the back of the head just before the hour.

Iwobi — signed from Everton last month — may have been better off heading an Antonee Robinson far-post cross rather than volleying the ball down into the ground and up. Then he had a shot blocked after Vinicius squared the ball to him.

It was certainly a more open game by now. Fulham had no choice but to chase the game and Chelsea seemed happy to soak up pressure and then break. They did this to effect in the 63rd minute and substitute Ian Maatsen — on for the presumably injured Mudryk at half time — struck the post with a left-foot shot from 18 yards. Fernandez was quickly on to the rebound but Leno came out to block.

A minute later, Raheem Sterling was brought on. Having started on the bench after a sickness bug, Sterling was booked for what appeared to be dissent almost immediately.

Fulham’s weight of possession in the second half never felt particularly significant. It was, for the large part, territory rather than actual pressure.

Having said that, they did create a super chance with just over 10 minutes left. Willian and substitute Tom Cairney opened Chelsea up down the left and when the ball was crossed low to the feet of Sasa Lukic, he was denied by a point-blank save from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

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