Chelsea 2-0 Fulham

Chelsea tightened their grip on fourth place in the Premier League as Kai Havertz’s double guided them to a routine 2-0 win over Fulham at Stamford Bridge.

Havertz had only scored twice in his previous 24 Premier League appearances in his first season following a high-profile move from Bayer Leverkusen.

But he showed his class against relegation-threatened Fulham in Saturday’s clash, a goal in each half sending Chelsea six points clear of fifth-placed West Ham, who face Burnley on Monday.

Fulham are nine points adrift of safety with four games to play and will be all but relegated if Newcastle United defeat Arsenal on Sunday and Burnley overcome West Ham.

After a bright start by Fulham, they were quickly undone by some brilliance from Mason Mount, who controlled a long ball superbly before sliding in Havertz to break the deadlock as a deflected shot beat a helpless Alphonse Areola.

Havertz had the ball in the net again but from an offside position, and Chelsea had Edouard Mendy to thank for preserving their lead as Ademola Lookman was denied for an undeterred Fulham.

But only Areola stopped Fulham from having a mountain to climb as he produced a tremendous stop after Werner collected another excellent Mount pass and squared for Hakim Ziyech.

More goalkeeping heroics came at the other end on the stroke of half-time, Mendy displaying his reflexes to keep out Ola Aina’s deflected half-volley.

The significance of that save was illustrated just over three minutes into the second half as Havertz put Chelsea in complete command.

He played an almost nonchalant one-two with Timo Werner, strolling into the box to roll the ball past Areola and push Fulham further towards a return to the Championship.

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