Player Ratings: Chelsea 2-0 Fulham

 
Chelsea
Petr Cech:  6.5
Made two brilliant saves. One on one with Darren Bent and another one from a Keiran Richardson shot. Confident in air. Barely tested apart from that.
Branislav Ivanovic:  7.5
Many people questioned Jose’s inclusion of him in the starting XI but he justified it with a brilliant performance. Even though he still needs work going forward, he was a beast defensively. Best Chelsea defender yesterday.
Gary Cahill:  6.5
Apart from the part where he was helpless to prevent Bent going one on one with Cech, he was pretty solid as usual. Good on ball and went forward whenever he could without risking the threat from Fulham attack.
John Terry: 6.5
Never really had a threat as Cahill dealt with Bent most of the time. Regardless, he still made remarkable tackles then and there. Emerged as winner in aerial duals most of the time.
Ashley Cole: 6.5
Much much better performance from Ashley Cole than one we saw against Basel and Everton. Even though he started a bit shaky, he improved significantly and been solid all game. He still need to find his old attacking insticts.
John Obi Mikel: 8.0
He scored! What do you need more?! His first Premier League goal in 185 games for Chelsea and a wonderful goal too. Brilliant technique to volley it in. He bought the much needed stability to the Chelsea midfield and dictated the game from the back of the midfield. A bit shaky at start but that was negligible.
Ramires:  6.5
The combination of Ramires-Mikel didn’t worked that well as one would have thought. His bombarding runs were very few if not none, maybe because he was playing in pain after an early incident in the Fulham box. Looked more in to defensive duties than the attacking one, unusual, with Mikel alongside him. His passing was poor at the start but did his defensive duties well. Pressed the Fulham midfield and minimised the threats through centre.
Andre Schürrle: 6.0
Not the one we saw at Old Trafford but still a fair performance. He will have to improve if he to win make the RW spot his.
Oscar: 8.5
Man of the match and the best Chelsea player for the second consecutive game. Though scrappy, he scored the most important goal which tooked the pressure off from Chelsea. His work rate has been outstanding throughout the game and made the most tackles (6) by a Chelsea player. He might need to improve on taking corners though.
Eden Hazard: 7.0
Started from where he left against Basel, piss poor. But as the game went on he started to improve. Looked a completely different player in the second half. Even though he was still not his usual self, he was really good.
Samuel Eto’o:  6.0
Not by much but the best game in a Chelsea shirt. Worked hard as usual, but couldn’t capitalise on few early chances. Played most part of the game in which Fulham were tightly organised at the back as they were going for a draw.
Substitutes
Fernando Torres: 5.5
Chelsea might have looked lively when he came on but that was partly because the Fulham defense and midfield were starting to get scattered just before he came on as they were pressing for a goal. His hold up play and dribbling were poor.
Frank Lampard: N/A
Came on for 10 minutes.
Kevin De Bruyne: N/A
Made a brilliant pass through to Torres in to the box though it was offside. Other than that he could do nothing as he was there for only five minutes.
Fulham
David Stockdale: 5.5
Didn’t looked confident in his judgments, especially in the air. Could have done better with the goals he conceded.
Sascha Riether: 6.0
Had a very good first half silencing Eden Hazard. Looked vulnerable in the second. Didn’t provide the threat forward which he was supposed to.
Fernando Amorebieta: 6.0
Not a bad game for a debutant but he might have been lucky not to concede a penalty against Ramires though it looked very soft.
Brede Hangeland: 6.5
Comfortably won most of the aerial duals with Eto’o. Rock solid in the first half but he found it hard to replicate that performance in the second half.
Kieran Richardson: 6.0
Livelier of the two Fulham full backs. Did well against Schürrle and had nearly scored a goal in the second half from a difficult angle. However defensively not very impressive.
Damien Duff: 6.5
Troubled Cole at the beginning and looked lively. Sent several balls in to the Chelsea box but Chelsea defense was strong enough to deal with those. Best attacking player for Fulham.
Steve Sidwell: 6.5
Acted as a safe cover for the Fulham defense. Good performance overall but his life was hard in the second half.
Scott Parker: 7.0
Best Fulham player. Worked very hard as he was everywhere on the pitch dictating play in the first half and pressing in the second half. He looked tired towards the end of the game.
Alexander Kacaniklic: 5.5
He had no answer to Ivanovic. Outmuscled and outplayed by Branna.
Pajtim Kasami: 5.5
Provided the best chance of the day for Fulham as he threaded a ball through to Bent who missed a one on one with Cech. Apart from that he was poor.
Darren Bent: 5.0
The only chance being the one on one with Cech. He was a spectator for the rest of the match. Worst player by far.
Substitutes
Aadel Taraabt:
Bought on for Duff but he didn’t made an impact as Chelsea were on their game in the second half.
Hugo Rodellega: N/A
Man of the Match: Oscar. Scored the decisive goal and worked non stop throughout the game. Also he made most tackles by a Chelsea player in the game. Understandable why Jose prefers him at No.10.
Flop of the Match: Darren Bent. Worst player by far. He was never actually in the game. Merely a spectator.
**Notice: What We Learned to come in about 5 hours from the publication of this article. We apologize for the delay!