MAURICIO Pochettino hailed Chelsea’s defensive resolve as they dug deep to secure a battling 1-0 derby win over Fulham at Stamford Bridge.
Armando Broja should have headed Chelsea in front midway through the first half but his attempt flew wide.
Only Djordje Petrovic’s leg denied Harry Wilson after he had been picked out at the far post by Antonee Robinson’s delivery.
But there was controversy when Malo Gusto only received a yellow card for a late tackle on Willian, a decision which Whites manager Marco Silva questioned afterwards.
The game’s decisive moment came just before the interval when Raheem Sterling was fouled inside the box by Issa Diop to earn the home side a penalty, which was duly converted as Cole Palmer sent Bernd Leno the wrong way from the spot.
Palmer went close to doubling his and Chelsea’s tally early in the second half with a curled shot that flew over.
Sterling’s header hit the post, although he was offside, and Levi Colwill saw an attempt just go off target as the Blues looked to make the game safe.
But Fulham were still very much in the contest and saw a Raul Jimenez low drive saved by Petrovic and then an Andreas Pereira free-kick go inches over.
Chelsea skipper Conor Gallagher was unlucky to see his 83rd minute volley cannon off the post and although Fulham continued to press at the other end, the hosts held on for a third straight Premier League victory.
And most impressively of all for the manager was the fact it came with a clean sheet.
Poch said: “The players today were very professional. I am very happy with the first 30 minutes of the second half.
“I think that is when we really played with more freedom and I think we performed and linked very well between us. We defended well.
“It was good to see this young team defend the last 10 or 15 minutes in the way we defended.
“We were fighting, doing everything to try to keep the result and get the three points.”
Pochettino alluded to an incident which disrupted his team’s pre-match plans, something he was reluctant to elaborate on.
However, the boss felt that was all forgotten about once play resumed after the break.
He said: “Something happened before the game. I do not want to explain but I think it did affect the team a little bit.
“In the second half we started really, really good. I think we played really good football, certainly that we played really, really well.
“They should have scored another goal, one or two and killed the game.
“But when it is open in a game like this and you do not kill the game, always in the last few minutes we conceded a few set pieces.
“With free-kicks and corners like this they have good potential in these situations. We defended well.
“I think it was good for us to suffer a little bit at the end but I think this type of game makes us grow and builds our confidence in the way we are working.”
