5-Goal Thriller: Chelsea Secure Victory at Fulham

The opening round of the new Premier League season concluded with a true London derby. Visiting Craven Cottage, Chelsea secured a hard-fought 3-2 comeback victory over Fulham in an intense encounter.

In a match that turned into a real goal-scoring show for the fans, new signings for both teams marked their debuts with brilliant goals.

1st-minute goal and the Palmer-Pedro tandem

The match started very early for the visitors:

• A lightning-fast goal in the 1st minute: In the very first seconds of the match, Chelsea forward Pedro opened the scoring;

• The hosts' response: In the 23rd minute, for Fulham, King restored parity (1-1);

• Debut goal and Palmer's magic: In the 41st minute, the 'Aristocrats' new signing Rogers scored his debut goal, and at the start of the second half (49th minute), Cole Palmer extended the lead to 3-1. Both Palmer and Pedro recorded a 'goal + assist' to their names.

Fulham's resilience and a tense finale

The hosts narrowed the gap to 2-3 in the 54th minute thanks to a debut goal from their new striker Gonçaloand applied pressure until the final minutes:

• Intensity and yellow cards: The referee was forced to show 5 yellow cards to representatives of both teams during the match;

• 3 points for Chelsea: Despite the tense situations in the final minutes, the 'Blues' defended reliably and started the season with an important 3 points.

Match report:

PL. Matchday 1

Fulham — Chelsea 2:3

August 24. London, Craven Cottage

• Goals: King (23), Gonçalo (54) — Pedro (1), Rogers (41), Palmer (49).

• Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Cuenca, Bassey, Robinson (Muniz, 82), Berge (Sessegnon, 73), Iwobi, Palacios (Kevin, 73), King, Bobb (Charles, 67), Gonçalo.

• Chelsea: Sánchez, Gusto (Neto, 76), Lacroix, Acheampong, Colwill, Hato (Chavarria, 65), James, Lavia (Fernández, 65), Rogers (Kuyenda, 82), Palmer (Estevão, 83), Pedro.

• Bookings: Colwill (5), Lavia (12), James (75), Bassey (76), Castagne (89).