Chelsea returned to the top of the Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 victory against neighbours Fulham, whose worrying form continues. Here’s how we rated the players in a one-sided derby at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea
Petr Cech: 6
The Blues keeper rarely touched the ball but denied Fulham an early opener when Darren Bent broke through the defensive line.
Branislav Ivanovic: 7
He took time to get to grips with Alex Kacaniklic but did so eventually and he was also an attacking outlet throughout.
John Terry: 7
Gave a typically commanding performance both with his own play and his communication with his team-mates. Again looked closer to being back to his best.
Gary Cahill: 6
The England centre-back had a solid game alongside Terry, although the pair were rarely tested.
Ashley Cole: 6
An off-day for Cole. He lost out to Damien Duff a number of times in the first half and didn’t offer as much going forward as he normally does.
John Obi Mikel: 8
Rounded off a good performance with his first ever Premier League goal for Chelsea. Boss Jose Mourinho spoke highly of him afterwards and with good reason. Does a vital job in midfield.
Ramires: 6
Ramires has not been as penetrative as he can be and this was another somewhat disappointing display.
Oscar: 8
Whilst the rest of Mourinho’s attacking options look short of confidence and craft, Oscar remains a constant danger and he capped a fine display with Chelsea’s opening goal.
Andre Schurrle: 6
It is difficult to know where Schurrle is at his best, but he looked more effective in the second half playing from the left-hand side and he almost had a first Chelsea goal when he ploughed his way into the penalty area and shot at David Stockdale.
Eden Hazard: 6
Seems to be lacking confidence at the moment and was short of his best even when moved from the left into the number 10 role midway through the first half.
Samuel Eto’o: 5
The Cameroon striker will find his feet in the Premier League in time but Chelsea clearly lacked an influential presence up front until he was replaced after an hour by Fernando Torres.
Fernando Torres: 6
Torres gave Chelsea the presence that was required and the Spaniard posed far more problems for the Fulham defenders than Eto’o was able to.
Fulham
David Stockdale: 5
Stockdale had a good first half and looked assured but his fumbling of Shurrle’s shot in the second half was baffling and then he pushed Eto’o’s follow-up right to the feet of the grateful Oscar, who made no mistake.
Sascha Riether: 6
The ever-reliable Riether gave another solid performance and was often creative in support of Duff on the right-hand side.
Brede Hangeland: 7
The Fulham captain did well to deal with the threat of Eto’o and then Torres.
Fernando Amorebieta: 6
The summer signing from Athletic Bilbao gave a solid debut and already looks like a more trustworthy partner for Hangeland than Philippe Senderos.
Kieran Richardson: 5
Richardson was understandably less effective in an attacking sense than he was last week against West Brom, and Oscar caused him a lot of problems down Chelsea’s right.
Scott Parker: 7
Parker was excellent, especially in the first half when he recycled possession often and moved Fulham quickly from defence into attack.
Steve Sidwell: 6
Sidwell is the mainstay of manager Martin Jol’s midfield and his performance was strong, but he squandered a few chances inside the area that he ought to have done much better with.
Damien Duff: 6
Duff also had a good opening period and caused Cole some early problems, with a cross finding the head of Sidwell midway through the half.
Pajtim Kasami: 6
Jol has persisted with the young Swiss and his superbly-weighted pass set up an early chance for Darren Bent. But he became sloppy after the break and allowed Terry to get the better of him to set up Mikel’s goal.
Alex Kacaniklic: 5
The young winger looked fairly lively in the first half but became more quiet as Ivanovic took control.
Darren Bent: 5
Had a poor game, although he was thrust into the side in place of Dimitar Berbatov having just recovered from a hamstring problem. Bent had a glorious chance to put his side ahead early in the match but a tame shot was hit straight at the legs of Cech.
Adel Taarabt: 5
The on-loan QPR man was unable to make an impression as a 64th-minute substitute with Chelsea beginning to pile on the pressure by that stage.
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This post was last modified on 22/09/2013
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Definitely unbias rating, I was please to see Mikel critics disappeared into thin air. If we must play a serious match, expect Mikel to play. He has won everything with Chelsea while playing not sitting.