Chelsea held off a spirited Fulham side to claim a valuable victory and move up to third in the Premier League.
The Blues took the lead early on when Pedro slotted home from N’Golo Kante’s pass and they could have had more in the first half had Sergio Rico not twice denied Olivier Giroud.
Fulham threatened to find an equaliser in the second half as Chelsea struggled for fluency, but substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek made the win safe when he fired past Rico after an intricate passing move with Eden Hazard and Pedro.
Defeat for Fulham means they stay bottom of the table, having claimed only one point from a possible 24 away from home this season.
There were promising moments for the visitors early on, even after Chelsea’s first goal, but neither Cyrus Christie nor Calum Chambers could seriously test Kepa Arrizabalaga, shooting straight at the Spaniard.
But it was only after Ranieri introduced Aboubakar Kamara and Floyd Ayite at half-time that his side began to pose a serious threat.
Kamara’s low cross was nearly deflected into the Chelsea net by Antonio Rudiger, and Kepa had to make a fine save to keep out Chambers’ header from the resulting corner.
And the Arsenal loanee drew another good save from Kepa shortly after, as the Spaniard dived to his right to beat away Chambers’ curling effort.
However, despite the Cottagers’ best efforts, they were unable to put their hosts under a sustained period of pressure, and Chelsea held on to claim consecutive home clean sheets for the first time this season.
Meanwhile, Fulham are the only side in England’s top four tiers who are yet to keep a clean sheet in 2018-19. (BBC)
