After an average first half with the best chance created by Fulham, Chelsea’s Oscar calmed the nerves of the fans when he tapped in after David Stockdale spilled Samuel Eto’o’s shot.
John Obi Mikel secured the three points when he scored his first Premier League goal in 185 appearances.
The victory ended Chelsea’s run of four games without a victory and takes them to the top of the league, leading Liverpool on goal difference. Their stay at the top may be short-lived with Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Manchester United to play on Sunday.
With Back-to-back losses to Everton and Basel, Jose Mourinho wanted to improve Chelsea’s style of play but there was no noticeable change in the host’s performance.
Chelsea deserved their victory against a Fulham side that lost their focus in the last 30minutes; they have now not won a match since the first game of the season.
Fulham held their ground in the first half and should have gone ahead when Bent was played through on goal by PajtimKasami, only to side-foot the ball to Cech.
Chelsea did dominate in terms of possession but they lacked drive and imagination. Eto’o failed to connect with two of Ivanovic’s crosses, while Harzard was limited to aimless long range shots.
With the tension mounting in the stands, Oscar delivered the opening goal within seven minutes of the second half. When Stockdale failed to hold on to shots from Andre Schurrle and Samuel Eto’o, the Brazilian was waiting in the wings to pass the ball into the net from inside the six-yard box.
Fulham came close to an equaliser when a Kasami free-kick drifted over a crowd of players to Sidwell, who couldn’t keep his header on target.
From then on Chelsea dominated, John Terry rose high from a resulting corner to nod and cross the ball to an unlikely Mikel Obi to lash home.