Chelsea were able to secure their first Premier League away win of 2019 after defeating west London rivals Fulham 1-2 on Sunday afternoon.
Goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Jorginho were enough to cancel out a strike from Calum Chambers, helping the Blues to a second consecutive Premier League victory after they defeated Tottenham in midweek.
The game was always likely to be a tough task for Fulham when you consider the two sides' respective positions in the Premier League table, but history has proven that the Cottagers have always found it difficult to get the better of their neighbours in the Premier League, as shown by this remarkable statistic from Opta.
Chelsea are unbeaten in 18 Premier League games against Fulham (W11 D7) – only against Spurs (28 games between 1992 and 2006) have they had a longer unbeaten run versus an opponent in the competition.
Whilst history is certainly on Chelsea's side, their recent away form would have given Fulham a snippet of hope coming into this one. Despite the fact that we are now three months into 2019, Chelsea were yet to secure a single win prior to Sunday and were left embarrassed in their previous away fixture in the league - a 6-0 defeat to Manchester City.
Not only had they failed to secure an away win in 2019, but this statistic also demonstrates just how important Higuain's opening goal was for Maurizio Sarri's side.
Chelsea scored their first away league goal in 2019 – they were the 91st of the 92 English league clubs to do so, leaving only Huddersfield Town without one.
Finishing in the top four is now firmly in Chelsea's hands and they'll be hoping that they can build on their recent victories. They'll now be preparing for the Europa League last 16 first leg against Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday before returning to domestic action with a home tie against Wolves next Sunday.
Source : 90min