Mudryk scores first Chelsea goal in win at Fulham

Chelsea emerged victorious in the West London derby at Craven Cottage thanks to a quick-fire double from Mykhaylo Mudryk and Armando Broja.

For a team that has been finding finishing difficult this season, Mauricio Pochettino would be happy to see those two players, in particular, getting on the scoresheet.

Mudryk’s first goal for the Blues came in the 18th minute from a quick counterattack that ended with Levi Colwill’s ball from the left that Issa Diop misjudged allowing the Ukrainian to go through on goal and beat Bernd Leno.

Just 20 seconds after the restart, it was 2-0 and this time Tim Ream was at fault for Fulham.

The American defender’s pass out from the back was poor with Cole Palmer being able to intercept and feed the ball through for Armando Broja.

Ream did well to initially get back and challenge Broja but luck wasn’t on his side as the tackle then bounced off the Chelsea forward and into the net. That goal came just under a year after Broja’s last with the Albania international last scoring on October 8th 2022.

Chelsea will feel that they should have played much of the second half against ten men after a bizarre incident in which Carlos Vinícius appeared to throw a karate chop-like hit at the back of Thiago Silva. VAR, under scrutiny once after last weekend’s mistakes, decided not to intervene.

The visitors almost made it 3-0 in the 63rd minute when Conor Gallagher did well to pull the ball back for substitute Ian Maatsen, whose shot bounced back off the post. Enzo Fernández was the first to react to the rebound that was quickly smothered by Leno.

Saša Lukić should have made it a more nervy end to the game for Chelsea when he got on the end of Tom Cairney’s pass from close range but the Serbian’s effort was struck straight at Robert Sánchez.

In the end, it was a comfortable win for Chelsea, who will be hoping this will kickstart their league campaign while Fulham were far from their best.

xG: Fulham (1.18) 0-2 (1.89) Chelsea

That's more like it. 💙 pic.twitter.com/ko9YNs4KYV

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 2, 2023