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Kevin McCarra at The Guardian
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Chelsea 2 Fulham 1
There was no sophistication to a Chelsea victory in which the uncontainable individualism of Didier Drogba brought an equaliser and the winner arrived through an own-goal from Chris Smalling.
This type of win will not have been what Roman Abramovich had in mind when he hired Carlo Ancelotti as manager but it was still a heartening recovery.
A discordant Chelsea line-up who were booed from the pitch at half-time were not really brought into tune by tactical tweaks.
Whatever took place, the seemingly composed Ancelotti contrived to bring an irresistible fury out of men who had seemed harmless.
The reward is a five-point lead, although Manchester United, in second place, have a game in hand.
There will be no surprise that Drogba epitomised the mercurial nature of the Chelsea display.
The Ivorian put his moodiness on show at first but subsequently collected himself to become a one-man onslaught.
Fulham could not afford the little piece of ill-fortune that afflicted them.
The right-back John Paintsil had to be taken off with a knee injury and even more harm was done in the reshuffle.
Chris Baird took over his duties and so went from telling midfield presence to uneasy defender.
There were gaps at last and Drogba was full of intent.
The substitute Branislav Ivanovic crossed deep and Drogba, for once unmarked, headed vigorously past Mark Schwarzer in the 73rd minute.
It was virtually inevitable that Chelsea would go on to claim their second league win in six games.
Delusions of mastery seemed to dog the club when plans were being laid for this fixture.
Only five members of the line-up who had drawn at Birmingham City on Boxing Day started here.
Such a sweeping reconstruction suggested that Chelsea had the means to take such grand decisions with complete confidence.
In practice regulars such as Ivanovic and, later, Ashley Cole could not be left to conserve their energies on the bench.
Ultimately a piece of luck was as important to Ancelotti as the adjustments he made.
Two minutes after the equaliser Chelsea went ahead through an own-goal.
Salomon Kalou crossed and the substitute Daniel Sturridge's effort was beaten out by Schwarzer, only for the ball to bounce off Smalling and into the net.
While that would have been poignant for anyone, the centre-back was even more seriously wronged because it was an incident for which he was blameless.
This was his first league start, awarded because of a knee injury that left Brede Hangeland unavailable, and the 20-year-old had excelled.
Chelsea were entitled to claim that, in the second half, their insistent pressure had altered the nature of the game.
The ball was certainly in the vicinity of the Fulham goalmouth more often, with Schwarzer having to parry after Drogba struck a shot on the turn in the 59th minute.
The Ivorian will be gravely missedwhile he is at the African Cup of Nations next month.
Chelsea will hope Nicolas Anelka's return to fitness and form can be rapid but Drogba is like no other footballer on the Stamford Bridge books.
The attacker's gift to the club is that five-point lead.
Chelsea's programme is not all that severe, on the face of it, although the degree of difficulty will be connected to the side's capacity to maintain form.
They have not looked intimidating since their 3-0 win at the Emirates on 29 November.
Chelsea have lacked zest and onoccasion they have looked like an ensemble in which too many members are feeling their age or sensing the lingering damage of all the battles of the past.
They cannot count any longer on fortitude in defence.
The goalless draw at Birmingham is their sole clean sheet in eight matches in all competitions since that trouncing of Arsenal.
Today's visitors had the lead after four minutes.
Clint Dempsey found Paul Konchesky and his delivery was laid off by Bobby Zamora to Zoltan Gera.
The Hungarian flicked the ball up to hook a finish beyond Petr Cech on the turn.
If any criticism is to be made of Chelsea it was that they did not generate enough attacks thereafter to keep the opposition off balance.
Should anything have disturbed the watching José Mourinho, then it can only have been the unsettling lack of initial impact by his old team.
The Internazionale coach would have found it impossible to believe that Chelsea can be so bland again when the two clubs meet in the last 16 of the Champions League.
He would not have been surprised when his adversaries revealed their true character as the afternoon developed.
Source .