Victories against Chelsea have been few and far between down the years for Fulham, but they thought they’d got off to the perfect start against the Blues here when Andreas Pereira poked home from inside the six-yard box.
Unfortunately for the Brazilian, the offside flag and a brief VAR check ruled that there were a couple of offsides in the build-up.
That only served as a temporary reprieve for the Blues, who soon found themselves behind.
They were the masters of their own downfall in that sense, as Reece James had his pocket picked by Ryan Sessegnon, who strode forward, found Alex Iwobi on the edge of the area, and drilled a left-footed effort from the edge of the area into the bottom corner.
Chelsea responded fairly well to falling behind, pinning Fulham in their own half at times, but creating any clear-cut opportunities was proving problematic for the UCL chasers.
Chants of “attack, attack, attack” by Chelsea fans for the second week running certainly weren’t helping their cause, but the fans were far from shy in making their feelings known.
The Blues heeded the plea from their travelling supporters after the break and did create a clear-cut sight of goal.
HT substitute Malo Gusto was involved, as his cross worked its way to the feet of Pedro Neto, but his wicked drive from 12 yards was blocked by the legs of Bernd Leno.
Enzo Maresca was looking to his senior players to dig them out of the mire, and when Cole Palmer broke into the box and worked a yard of space, it looked like they’d done just that.
But when he skewed his effort horribly wide, it appeared it wasn't going to be Chelsea’s day.
Parked inside the Fulham half for most of the second 45, Chelsea were giving themselves a great chance of drawing level, and they eventually did so through academy graduate Tyrique George, who pounced on a loose ball and arrowed an effort into the bottom corner.
Chelsea had all the momentum going into the closing stages, and they translated that dominance into a late winner.
There was nothing fortunate about it either, as Pedro Neto controlled, swivelled, and thundered an effort into the roof of Leno’s net to send the away end into raptures and move Chelsea into the top five.
Defeat isn’t catastrophic to Fulham, but they did miss the chance to move into eighth, which could be enough for a European spot come the end of the season, depending on who wins the FA Cup.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Pedro Neto (Chelsea)