Chelsea came close to taking the lead midway through the first half when Enzo Fernandez's corner flew all the way over Bernd Leno and was shouldered onto the crossbar by Andrey Santos from point-blank range, while a flurry of Fulham bodies blocked Moises Caicedo's rebound off the line.
Moments later, the game sparked into life. A long kick from Leno while the Blues were regrouping from another corner found Harry Wilson racing away, with Cucurella in hot pursuit. The Spaniard dragged down the Fulham attacker as the last man back and was shown a red card - Chelsea's seventh of the season - forcing the visitors to play roughly three quarters of the game with 10 men.
During added time at the end of the first half, Fulham thought they had taken the lead. Jorge Cuenca's ball into Raul Jimenez was then turned onto Wilson, who finished at Robert Sanchez's near post. However, Jimenez was offside in the build up and the goal was chalked off.
However, shortly after the break, Chelsea did go behind. A deep cross from Sander Berge found Jimenez, who had gained a yard on Trevoh Chalobah and headed his side in front.
A rare Chelsea opportunity came and went when a clever dummy from Cole Palmer allowed Liam Delap to get in beyond the last line, but his dinked effort was kept out by the right arm of Leno and the loose ball was cleared off the line. But Delap made amends soon after from another dangerous corner. Antonee Robinson headed Pedro Neto's corner up onto his own post, and the English striker was quickest to react to the rebound and converted from close range.
Fulham threw the kitchen sink at Chelsea in search of a winner, with Sanchez standing tall to deny Jimenez a couple times more in quick succession, before Wilson got his customary goal. It came after the Blues goalkeeper parried a low cross from Emile Smith Rowe to the edge of the box, and there was Wilson to lash in the loose ball.
Chelsea failed to find an equaliser and have now lost further ground in the race for a Champions League place, with Fulham now level on points and their other west London neighbours, Brentford, now two clear of both of them.
GOAL rates Chelsea's players from Craven Cottage...
