Chelsea 0-0 Fulham (4-3 pens): 10-man Blues through to round four after Bryan Ruiz misses crucial penalty

After an incident-shy opening, it took a denied penalty claim following Florent Malouda's tangle with Zdenek Grygera to get the host going, with Salomon Kalou missing a golden opportunity to put his side ahead as glanced a free header wide of the post.

From there, a rampant Lukaku barged his way into the Fulham box and sent his effort straight at Mark Schwarzer, with Daniel Sturridge driving narrowly wide after cutting in from the right flank moments later.

The Blues were almost made to rue those missed chances as Fulham began to look more menacing, though Pajtim Kasami wastefully lashed into the side netting after a delightfully scooped Ruiz pass.

Sturridge then slid in to convert Kalou’s goal-bound effort and saw the score ruled out for offside, with that being the last of the action for the young striker as he hobbled off to be replaced by Frank Lampard five or so minutes before the referee called for the interval.

                   Young Guns | Romelu Lukaku chases down Fulham's Matthew Briggs

The game burst into life as soon as the teams came back out for the second half. Lampard took little time to provide the incision that was absent for Chelsea, slotting in Kalou who bore down on goal only to rifle his shot in the side-netting.

In a matter of seconds, Fulham counter-attacked and won themselves a penalty after a delightful Ruiz backheel released Frei who was hacked down by Alex. The Brazilan received a red card for his misdemeanor, though Chelsea was not made to pay the full price, as Kasami slammed his penalty against the bar.

Lampard started proceedings but had his penalty saved, before Bobby Zamora, Luiz, Sidwell and Terry all netted. Dembele had his tame effort palmed away as Kalou and Chris Baird effectively forced sudden death. From there Malouda tucked his cool spot-kick into the top corner as Ruiz proved the fall-guy, his slammed effort bouncing off the under side of the bar, allowing a lucky Chelsea to progress to the fourth round of the Carling Cup.