Late show from the Blues thwarts Fulham's bid to claim first ever double over Chelsea

Setting the mood : Picture by @YTJourno

Fulham (1) 1 Iwobi 20

Chelsea (0) 2 George 84, Pedro Neto 93

Teenaged sub Tyrique George came off the bench to bag his first Premier League goal to set up a late win for Chelsea - Pedro Neto's turn and left-foot smash securing a comeback victory that looked a million miles away after a turgid first half.

The late strikes denied Fulham a first ever league double over their bitter foes from down the road.

The Whites secured a famous 2-1 win at the Bridge on Boxing Day to end a 45-year wait for an away win against Chelsea and it was only their ninth ever against them when points were at stake.

And it looked for all the world that they were going to make this a famous day after taking a deserved first-half lead through Alex Iwobi and completely dominating up to the interval.

But the Blues got their act together to end a wretched run of away results - this was their first on the road since December 8 - and it keeps their hopes of a top-five Champions League place on track. But it was a blow to the Whites' own hopes of securing a Euro berth next term.

Fulham looked by far the more motivated of the two sides in the early passages - maybe it was being forced to kick towards the Hammy End from the off that did it. They prefer to attack that end in the second half of matches but this time had to get on with it.

They were soon looking the sharper in 50-50 contests and zipped the ball around with greater purpose and desire. It was the sort of day when stats might show one side outrunning their opponents by a considerable distance.

The Blues struggled to find Cole Palmer The whites looked like they were the only side treating the game as a serious derby. Andreas Pereira epitomised the commitment. He was delighting in mixing it with any blue shirt around - especially the one belonging to Moises Caicedo.

Enzo Maresca was sufficiently concerned to make two changes at the break - one of them being Jadon Sancho for Noni Madueke, who always seems to be the fall guy when things aren't clicking for the Italian boss.

The opener was a goal of great simplicity as Ryan Sessegnon won the ball near half way and gobbled up the space in front of him before finding Iwobi just outside the area and the midfielder fired low across Robert Sanchez before Enzo Fernandez could close him down.

Chelsea were discomfited by their neighbours' tempo and urgency but almost drew level when Neto's ball in from the left was only just out of reach of a lunging Nicolas Jackson - who soon after had a far-post shot blocked at a corner.

Neto - the most effective player on show for the Blues by far - came close to squirming a shot under Bernd Leno after the break as Chelsea at last discovered the requisite energy levels and there were efforts by Sancho and Marc Cucurella pinged straight at Leno.

There were few unmissable openings thiugh - or at least thst was the case until 19-year-old George arrived to help save the day for Chelsea when he pounced on the edge of the area to put away a ball that came in from the right.

Neto then applied the coup to grace with a blistering shot after Fernandez had found him in the box - breaking Fulham hearts yet again.

Whites: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Tete (Castagne 78), Andersen, Bassey, Robinson - Berge, Lukic (Cairney 72) - Sessegnon (Wilson 78), Pereira, Iwobi (Traore 84) - Jimenez (Vinicius 84)

Blues: (4-2-3-1) Sanchez - James (Gusto h/t) (Tosin 90), Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella - Fernandez, Caicedo - Madueke (Sancho h/t), Palmer, Pedro Neto - Jackson (George 78)

Attendance: 27,712