Three things we learned from Chelsea win over Fulham as Enzo Maresca faces striker shortage | OneFootball

Liam Delap injury means impressive Joao Pedro will have to shoulder burden alone for now - a good job he’s in such good form

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Dom Smith

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Chelsea are top of the Premier League, at least for now.

They had a large helping hand from VAR in their 2-0 win over Fulham when the referee checked the pitch-side monitor and controversially ruled out Josh King’s opener for a supposed foul on Trevoh Chalobah by Rodrigo Muniz. It was harsh on Fulham, but set Chelsea on their way.

Here, Standard Sport looks at three things we learned about Chelsea in their third match of the season.

Joao Pedro continues sensational start

For Joao Pedro, life at Chelsea is flowing very smoothly indeed. The Brazil international was signed this summer while on holiday in Rio de Janeiro, where he worked daily with a personal trainer before joining up with the squad midway through the Club World Cup.

In five competitive starts, he now has five goals for the Blues, and the confidence with which he peeled away from the defender and planted a header into the net from Fernandez’s corner boded so well for Chelsea.

He now goes away on international duty, where Brazil face Chile at the Maracana. It would be to no one at Chelsea’s surprise if he lit up that occasion, too. He is filling the void in the absence of the injured Cole Palmer right now.

Set-pieces can be key threat

These pages homed in last week on Chelsea’s excellent set-pieces in the 5-1 win over West Ham, and particularly the impact that set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva is having since joining in the summer of 2024.

The importance of set plays was evident again at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea beat their west London rivals thanks to a headed goal from a corner, and then a penalty.

Pedro Neto delivered one poor free-kick in the first half, floated hopelessly into the arms of Bernd Leno.

But the corners from Fernandez were often pinpoint, and either knocked on, or put straight into the net, as happened when Joao Pedro made it two league goals in three games on the stroke of half-time.

Corners, in particular, are proving highly valuable currency for Chelsea, just as they are for a certain team from north London who also have designs on challenging for the Premier League title.

Chelsea face striker shortage

It was comically bad timing for Chelsea that on the day they got rid of the second of two big-money strikers to leave this week — Nicolas Jackson granted permission to fly to Germany for a Bayern Munich loan move — one of those they are left with went off injured inside 15 minutes.

George and Joao Pedro shared the responsibility up front for the remainder of the game.

With Christopher Nkunku sold to AC Milan, and Jackson now also going, Chelsea must think carefully about whether they want to grant George an exit too.

He’s not even an out-and-out striker, but they only have two of those — Delap and Joao Pedro — and Delap could be facing up to eight weeks on the sidelines. They look especially light in the position now and George is one of the few players in the squad who could fill in.

The same thing happened on winter deadline day, when Jackson and Marc Guiu went off injured against West Ham the night Joao Felix flew off on loan to Milan. Luckless? Or poor planning?