Chelsea see off Fulham

A relieved Maurizio Sarri said his players were too tense after last weekend's mauling by Tottenham Hotspur to kill off bottom-placed Fulham, until substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek's late strike settled the Blues' 2-0 win on Sunday.

Despite going ahead in the fourth minute when Spain forward Pedro skipped inside his marker to score, Chelsea struggled to show much fluency and were indebted to goal-keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for denying Fulham an equaliser in the second half.

"Today it was really very important the result," Sarri told reporters. "We needed, I think, to kill the match before but today I think that we were a little bit tense.

"Of course it wasn't easy in the days after Tottenham -- for me, for the players -- but I think we have talked too much about that match...Today it was important to react."

Spurs beat Chelsea 3-1 last Saturday in a game that could have finished with a much more embarrassing scoreline for Sarri's team who had been undefeated in the league before then.

"In Tottenham, 11 players played very badly. I thought that today it was natural to give them another chance," Sarri said.

Chelsea -- who sit third in the Premier League pending the outcome of Spurs' encounter with Arsenal on Sunday -- will face stiffer tests than Fulham over the next six days.

They visit Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of the surprise success stories of the season so far, on Wednesday and host league leaders Manchester City on Saturday.

Fulham's new coach Claudio Ranieri, who oversaw a 3-2 win against Southampton last weekend in his first match in charge, said he was happy with the performance of his players against Chelsea despite their defeat.

"It's strange to tell but it is true. I think we played much better today than the Southampton match. We have to continue this way," Ranieri, a former Chelsea manager, said.

During the game, the Italian appeared annoyed as his players wasted chances to punish Chelsea and he vented his frustration in coarse Italian on the touchline.

But he was more measured in his post-match news conference.

"My players must understand better my philosophy because I play very, very fast," Ranieri said.

N'Golo Kante -- publicly criticised by his manager for his positioning in the match against Spurs -- was instrumental in the opening goal, dispossessing Jean Michael Seri in the middle of the pitch and feeding the ball to Pedro on the right side of the penalty box.

The winger stepped inside onto his left foot and fired the ball into the far corner.

Pedro's strike was Chelsea's 1,000th home goal in the Premier League -- they are the third club to reach the landmark after Manchester United and Arsenal.

Chelsea dominated the remainder of the first half, with Sergio Rico saving smartly with his feet from Olivier Giroud shortly before half-time but they failed to convert their dominance into clear-cut chances.

Ranieri made two substitutions for the second half, bringing on Floyd Ayite and Aboubakar Kamara for Stefan Johansen and Ryan Sessegnon.

Fulham, playing with more urgency, twice went close to an equaliser through defender Calum Chambers.

Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga kept out Chambers' header 10 minutes after the break before the loose ball was cleared off the line by Pedro.

Then midway through the second half Kepa palmed away a powerful shot from Chambers.

However, England international Loftus-Cheek finished a lovely move and secured the points by driving into the net from the right-hand side of the penalty area in the 82nd minute.