Mykhailo Mudryk off the mark as Chelsea dazzle Fulham in 80 seconds

The recovery may be at an early stage, but the sight of a rampant Mykhailo Mudryk tearing through to score his first goal in English football, Armando Broja finding the net on his first start since recovering from a serious knee injury and Cole Palmer’s delicate passing bewitching Fulham’s defenders will only strengthen Chelsea’s belief in Mauricio Pochettino’s ability to coax the best out of their young talents.

For Pochettino, there was proof that commitment will always pay off. Chelsea’s head coach has taken a special interest in Mudryk, working on the winger’s confidence, bonding with him on the training ground, and the Ukrainian has grown in recent weeks. Here, despite opening with a couple of erratic moments, Mudryk soared. After enduring such mockery since his £88.5m move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January, he stopped running down dead ends, exploded into life after 18 minutes and smashed his shot past Bernd Leno after controlling Levi Colwill’s flighted cross.

Straight away came the sight of Caicedo setting the tone in defensive midfield, leaving two early reducers on Andreas Pereira, and Broja’s physicality causing problems for Fulham. It was as if Chelsea were powered by a determination to silence the taunts about last season’s plummet to third best in west London.

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The worry for Pochettino, of course, was that Chelsea would rue not going ahead during a dominant opening spell. A sense of foreboding fell over the visitors when a loose touch from Palhinha sent Broja through in the second minute and the striker blazed high and wide after rounding Leno. Enzo Fernández also wasted a promising opening with a heavy touch, before two attacks faltered at Mudryk’s feet.

Yet Chelsea kept finding space behind Palhinha and Harrison Reed, Fulham’s midfielders. They varied their passing angles and attacked again when Caicedo switched the play to the left. Colwill had room to attack and Issa Diop misjudged the left-back’s ball, allowing Mudryk to storm through, control and give Chelsea a deserved lead.