Kai Havertz scored twice as Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 victory against Fulham at Stamford Bridge.
Havertz scored early in each half to ensure the Blues pulled further clear in the battle for top four and condemn the Cottagers to another damaging defeat.
Chelsea sit in fourth position just two points adrift from Leicester City in third and are also six points clear of fifth-placed West Ham.
Meanwhile, Fulham’s woeful season only became more miserable as victories for Brighton, Burnley and Newcastle in the past week now see the Cottagers nine points adrift from safety with only 12 points left to play for.
Thomas Tuchel praises Chelsea’s professionalism
The goalscorer Kai Havertz was one of five changes to the Chelsea starting line-up as Tuchel clearly had one eye on the Champions League semi-final second leg in midweek but the Chelsea manager praised his side’s mentality following the victory.
Tuchel said: ‘We were spot on today with our focus. We demanded it from ourselves, we showed that we are capable of performing in between two big games. We showed pride and there was no lack of concentration against a Fulham team that gives everyone a hard time.
‘This was also a big game for us because we worked so hard to be in this position and it was important to keep the advantage in the top four race so I’m very happy that we did this today.’
Kai Havertz at the double
The visitors started brightly and Antonee Robinson stole the ball from Havertz in the final third before driving towards goal and powering a shot on goal that forced Edouard Mendy to tip over the bar.
The chance woke Chelsea up and they took the lead soon after as Mason Mount expertly controlled a long ball from Thiago Silva before teeing up Havertz who slid the ball beyond Alphonse Areola.
Only eight minutes later Havertz and Mount combined again and the German had the ball in the back of the net once again. However, the goal was quickly ruled out for offside to prevent Chelsea from doubling their lead.
Fulham responded well to their reprieve and Ademola Lookman’s powerful low drive towards the bottom corner forced Mendy into another fine stop to preserve his clean sheet.
It was then Areola’s job to keep Fulham in the match after Timo Werner pulled the ball back for Hakim Ziyech on the edge of the box but the French goalkeeper did well to get across and deny the Moroccan.
With the last kick of the first half, the Cottagers thought they’d equalised as Ola Aina’s strike deflected off Reece James but Mendy just managed to readjust his feet to push the ball out and protect the Blues’ advantage.
Just three minutes after the break the Blues doubled their lead as Werner and Havertz combined before Havertz doubled his own tally with a finish almost identical to his first half effort.
The goal eliminated any hopes of a comeback for Fulham who offered little going forward and failed to record a single shot on target in the second half.
Whereas, Chelsea were happy to cruise to victory with little trouble ahead of a crucial second leg tie against Real Madrid on Wednesday.
