London (AFP) – Jorginho fired Chelsea to a 2-1 win at struggling Fulham on Sunday as Blues keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga began to make amends for his Wembley mutiny with an impressive display.
Maurizio Sarri’s side took the lead through Gonzalo Higuain before Calum Chambers equalised at Craven Cottage.
In an incident-packed first half, the much-maligned Jorginho restored Chelsea’s lead with his first goal since the opening weekend of the season.
Chelsea were also indebted to Kepa for a series of superb saves that preserved their lead after the break, lifting the sixth placed Blues within two points of fourth placed Manchester United.
Sarri had dropped Kepa for Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Tottenham on Wednesday as punishment for the Spaniard’s refusal to be substituted during last weekend’s League Cup final defeat against Manchester City.
But Sarri had insisted Kepa remained his “first choice” and the world’s most expensive keeper returned in place of Willy Caballero after his one-game demotion.
Despite an improved display in caretaker manager Scott Parker’s first game following the midweek sacking of Claudio Ranieri, second bottom Fulham have lost eight of their past nine league games and sit 10 points from safety.
Sarri’s decision to restore Kepa to the team was a gamble that could have backfired as Chelsea made a nervous start.
After Ryan Babel’s cross opened up the Chelsea defence, Cesar Azpilicueta threw himself in the path of Tom Cairney’s goal-bound shot, with the rebound falling to Joe Bryan, who curled wide from the edge of the area.
Kepa’s return almost started in embarrassing fashion when he made a complete hash of catching Kevin McDonald’s cross in a swirling wind, the ball slipping through his grasp as he was challenged by Babel.
It would have been an open goal for Babel, but the Fulham winger was slow to react and Kepa scrambled back to dive on the ball.
Chelsea made the most of their escape to take the lead in the 20th minute.
Willian’s pass picked out Azpilicueta’s run down the right and Chelsea’s captain whipped over a cross that Higuain met with an instinctive volleyed finish.
– Kepa to the rescue –
It was Higuain’s third goal in eight games since the Argentine striker joined on loan from Juventus in January.
Kepa redeemed himself with an acrobatic save to keep out Aleksandar Mitrovic’s volley from Ryan Sessegnon’s cross.
From the resulting corner, Chelsea were punished for an awful piece of defending as Fulham grabbed a 28th minute equaliser.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2Tqm4Yp
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