There are matches that require patience to unlock, and there are matches decided before the crowd has settled. This was emphatically the latter. Sixty seconds into a west London derby that promised fire, Chelsea already had their noses in front, and Craven Cottage was left blinking at a scoreboard that had barely had time to warm up.

João Pedro was the culprit, sweeping a right-footed finish into the bottom-left corner after Cole Palmer released him on a fast break that sliced Fulham open like the game had not yet begun. It was the perfect start for the visitors and the worst possible one for a home side still finding its feet in the new season.

What followed was not a procession but a proper contest, one that swung and lurched and refused to sit still. Fulham answered, Chelsea pulled clear, Fulham struck again, and by the final whistle the 2-3 scoreline flattered neither the drama nor the effort poured into it. Chelsea took the points; Fulham took the bruises.

Fast start, faster response

For all that early shock, Fulham did not fold. They gathered themselves and, by the 23rd minute, they had drawn level in style. Timothy Castagne worked the ball to the right and picked out Josh King, who steered a right-footed finish into the centre of the goal to send Craven Cottage roaring back to life.

It was the kind of equaliser that changes an afternoon's mood, turning anxiety into belief. For a spell Fulham looked the likelier side, pressing with intent and sensing that Chelsea's early swagger could be pegged back. The derby had found its rhythm, and the home crowd began to believe the fast start might be forgiven.

But belief is a fragile currency against a side with Chelsea's edge. Four minutes before the interval, the visitors restored their lead, and they did so with a cool efficiency that stung all the more for Fulham's momentum. Maxence Lacroix supplied the pass and Morgan Rogers finished from the centre of the box, planting the ball into the middle of the net.

Palmer twists the knife

If the first half had been a fair fight, the opening of the second was a demonstration of quality. Four minutes after the restart, Chelsea landed the blow that ought to have settled it. João Pedro turned provider this time, teeing up Cole Palmer, who conjured a left-footed finish from a difficult angle on the left that found the centre of the goal.

It was a goal of real craft, the sort only a certain kind of player attempts, let alone converts. Palmer's fingerprints had been on the afternoon from the first minute, and here he stamped his authority in the most decisive fashion. At 3-1, with the game barely reopened, Chelsea looked to be cruising.

Craven Cottage sagged, briefly. A two-goal cushion early in the second half, against opponents who had already shown their teeth, felt like the moment the derby tipped irretrievably. Chelsea had the lead, the momentum and the composure of a side that knew how to protect an advantage.

A grandstand finish

Fulham, though, were not done. On 54 minutes they hauled themselves back within one, Gonzalo García rising to head home from very close range into the top-left corner. Suddenly a game that had seemed decided crackled back into uncertainty, and the home supporters found their voice once more.

What remained was a long, tense examination of Chelsea's nerve. Fulham threw themselves forward in search of a second equaliser, and the visitors were made to defend for their lives, every clearance and interception greeted with the roar of a side desperate to hold on. The one-goal margin lent the closing half-hour an edge that neither team could afford to relax into.

Chelsea survived. The three goals they had scored proved just enough to withstand the storm, and when the whistle finally sounded it was the visitors who exhaled with relief and satisfaction in equal measure. For Fulham, a comeback twice mounted and twice undone left only the ache of what might have been.

What it means

The result lifts Chelsea to sixth, three points from their opening fixture, with three scored and two conceded — the profile of a side that can hurt anyone but must tidy up at the back. Winning a derby from a position of early control, then clinging on through a nervous finale, is the sort of examination that tempers a team early in a campaign. They will take the character shown as readily as the points banked.

For Fulham, 12th and still without a point after one defeat, the frustration is sharpened by how much they contributed. Two goals against Chelsea, two moments of belief conjured from difficult positions, and yet nothing to show for it. Josh King and Gonzalo García gave the home crowd cause to cheer, but the concession of that first-minute goal set a tone Fulham could never quite escape.

The margins were fine and the football was watchable throughout, which will be scant consolation for a home side that must now regroup. Fulham will feel they matched Chelsea for spells and simply lacked the ruthlessness to punish them. That is the lesson of a derby like this: intent is admirable, but at this level it is precision that pays.

Chelsea move on with their early swagger intact and a valuable win in the ledger. Fulham move on chasing a first point of the season, knowing the performance was there even if the result was not. Craven Cottage emptied with the sense of a game that gave everything but a home victory — and, for the visitors, that was precisely the point.