João Pedro and Fernández fire Chelsea to win against Fulham after VAR drama | Premier League

Perhaps the biggest insult for Fulham was that the first half was still going on when Chelsea finally broke through. They were into the ninth minute of added time when Enzo Fernández delivered a corner, João Pedro leapt to score and Marco Silva was forced to accept that the footballing Gods were not on his side, but this is where the game is these days. It is pedantic, stop-start and too vulnerable to being warped by technology’s blurred lines.

It is tiresome to have to talk about refereeing decisions – far better to focus on João Pedro’s blistering form since swapping Brighton for Chelsea, for instance – but sometimes there is no other choice. This is the era of VAR and fortune did not favour Fulham as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge. They dominated much of the opening period and had done enough to lead this west London derby, only for the red mist to descend when Josh King’s first goal for his boyhood club was followed by one of those long, tortured looks at the pitchside monitor and a ruling from Rob Jones that left the Fulham head coach, Silva, utterly incandescent on the touchline.

Clear and obvious? The only thing beyond doubt here was Silva’s rage. The supposed offence during the buildup to King’s lovely strike came from Rodrigo Muniz inadvertently treading on Trevoh Chalobah’s foot as he turned away from the Chelsea defender. There was no major appeal. Muniz had possession and was being challenged by Chalobah. Most people saw a good goal. Michael Salisbury, the man at Stockley Park, saw a reason to intervene.

Is football better for these delays? Would Chelsea truly have cried foul if the goal had stood? Or would attention have been on how Fulham had cut them open on the counterattack?

Chelsea had toiled. They lost Liam Delap to a hamstring injury, leaving them light in attack, and they looked weary. Yet winning the Club World Cup has strengthened Chelsea’s resilience. They continued to grind when they were struggling and the length of time it took to reach a conclusion on King’s goal meant a minimum of eight minutes added on, giving Enzo Maresca’s side to eke out an undeserved lead through João Pedro’s fifth goal in his sixth game in a blue shirt.

It was a strange afternoon. There was Fernández responding to his assist for João Pedro by ripping off the captain’s armband and appearing to throw it at Chelsea’s fitness coach, Marcos Álvarez. There was another long VAR review before Chelsea were awarded a penalty that Fernández buried at the start of the second half. Patience was stretched. Chelsea did not convince but they won. They have seven points from nine and will surely get better once they shake off the rust.

Chelsea had started the day with a flurry of transfer activity, announcing Christopher Nkunku’s move to Milan and agreeing to send Nicolas Jackson on loan to Bayern Munich. By lunchtime there were jokes about Chelsea rushing Jackson back from Germany to fill in up front.

Already deprived of the ingenuity of Cole Palmer, there was further concern for Maresca when Delap departed 11 minutes into this game. A compressed pre-season is having an impact. Levi Colwill is out, while Moisés Caicedo is not at top speed.

Confident opponents will see openings. Chelsea adjusted without Palmer, Jackson’s replacements starting together again, João Pedro and Delap combining through the middle. There was another opportunity for Estêvão Willian, the prodigious Brazilian teenager, and the bright young things in attack made a confident start.

Yet the mood changed when Delap hurtled off down the left and pulled up with a hamstring injury. Maresca turned to his bench. He looked past Jamie Gittens, the £48.5m summer signing from Borussia Dortmund, and threw on Tyrique George, who is expected to be sold before the transfer window shuts on Monday.

Chelsea muddled on. The action was scrappy. Sander Berge and Sasa Lukic were a burly duo in front of the visiting team’s back four, enabling the impressive King to influence the contest at the tip of Fulham’s midfield.

King thought that he had his moment when another aimless Chelsea attack broke down in the 21st minute. Released by Berge, the teenager raced away from Tosin Adarabioyo, cut past the former Fulham defender and beat Robert Sánchez. Fulham’s joy was shortlived.

Jones lost control of the game after the disallowed goal. Chelsea continued to struggle. Caicedo produced a vital challenge to deny Timothy Castagne after more good work from King.

Chelsea did some weird things. Fernández was struggling. He looked in a hurry to get rid of the ball at one point, blasting it up the pitch instead of bringing it down. Then, though, all the frustration poured out. Deep into stoppage time, Chelsea forced a succession of corners. Fernández swung one in from the left. João Pedro rose unchallenged and directed a nifty header past Bernd Leno.

Fulham screamed daylight robbery. Fernández, meanwhile, ran off shushing fans in the East Stand. Someone had wound him up. Had he seen Chelsea send Andrey Santos out to warm up?

All seemed well when Chelsea returned for the second half, though. They looked to press home their advantage. Enter the officials. A cross from Chalobah drew an obvious handball from Ryan Sessegnon, whose arms were raised. It took four minutes for Jones to come to a decision. There was a check for a foul by João Pedro. Silva laughed. The penalty was given and Fernández buried it.

Shackles off, Chelsea hunted a third, Leno thwarting Estêvão and João Pedro. Fulham responded by introducing Raúl Jiménez and Harry Wilson but they knew it was not going to be their day.