Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel praises Kai Havertz's attitude after two-goal salvo against Fulham

German forward turns disappointment at missing out on Real Madrid clash into producing best peformance yet for Blues

CHELSEA RATINGS: Edouard Mendy - 8, Pulled off a superb reaction stop to deny Ola Aina, while he also made good saves against Antonee Robinson and Ademola Lookman. EPA

Andreas Christensen - 7, Was confident in his defending and rarely looked stretched throughout, showing great timing in his tackling. EPA

Thiago Silva - 8, Never looked flustered, even comfortably dealing with the situation when his pass to Billy Gilmour was cut out. The Brazilian’s long ball forward led to the opener. AFP

Kurt Zouma - 7, Looked authoritative and commanding in a lot his defending, while he also carried the ball well at times. Booked for a foul on Anguissa. Reuters

Reece James - 8, Put in a lot of good defensive work, especially dealing with deep crosses, and had the odd foray forward into the Fulham half. EPA

Billy Gilmour - 6, Making his first start under Thomas Tuchel, Gilmour often worked well in tight spaces. However, there were a couple of times where the 19-year-old looked a bit lightweight. EPA

Mason Mount - 9, His superb touch and pass to assist Kai Havertz set the tone for a lot of his game, as he showed plenty of quality throughout. EPA

Ben Chilwell - 6, Got up and down the pitch well, showing intelligence to put off Ivan Cavaleiro when the ball came in at the back post. PA

Hakim Ziyech - 7, Showed plenty of quality throughout, including a nice touch to nutmeg Robinson. Might feel he should have done better with the effort that was saved from inside the box. AP

Timo Werner - 8, Worked tirelessly and made good runs behind the Fulham defence. Assisted Havertz with a very nice pass to his compatriot. Came agonisingly close to reaching the ball in dangerous areas. AP

Kai Havertz - 9, Scored a brace with two very neat finishes, making the game look incredibly easy at times. EPA

SUBSTITUTES: N’Golo Kante (Ziyech 66’) - 6, Moved the ball well and looked comfortable throughout his time on the pitch. AFP

Tammy Abraham (Mount 76’) – N/A, Looked fairly frustrated at points, as he hardly got a touch of the ball. AP

Marcos Alonso (Chilwell 81’) – N/A, Hit his free-kick effort straight into the wall and had little to do outside of that.

FULHAM RATINGS: Alphonse Areola - 7, Was unlucky not to deny Havertz’s first and made a really good save to stop Ziyech adding another Chelsea goal. EPA

Ola Aina - 6, His strike from the edge of the box forced a great save from Mendy. Showed perseverance in his defending and had the odd flash of quality going forward. Booked for a late foul on Werner. Reuters

Joachim Andersen - 6, Gave Mount too much space for the opener but stood fairly strong after that and made a good interception to stop a pass that threatened to cut Fulham’s defence open. Reuters

Tosin Adarabioyo - 6, Competed well throughout the game and looked comfortable when he had the ball at his feet. Getty

Antonee Robinson - 7, Got up and down well, providing a threat from the left. Forced a save from Mendy with a decent effort early on. Getty

Bobby Decordova-Reid - 6, Put in a slightly quiet performance and didn’t offer much on the ball but worked hard for the team throughout. PA

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa - 5, There were times where it looked as though the midfielder had given up on Premier League safety. He pulled out of a tackle with Ziyech then put his team in danger with a poor pass moments later. EPA

Mario Lemina - 7, Showed a lot of commitment and did well to put pressure on Ziyech when the Chelsea man could have had a simple chance. Some of the Gabon international’s decision making was a bit off though. AP

Ademola Lookman - 4, Hit a strike that made life very awkward for Mendy but was anonymous for large periods of the game. Some of his set-piece deliveries were very disappointing. AFP

Josh Maja - 6, Was always showing for the ball and made some intelligent runs, but he rarely managed to get into goalscoring areas. EPA

Ivan Cavaleiro - 5, Offered a slight threat but didn’t show the clinical edge needed to turn that into clear cut chances for himself.

SUBSTITUTES: Aleksandar Mitrovic (Maja 81’) – N/A, Got his head onto a couple of balls but couldn’t threaten Mendy’s goal. Getty

Josh Onomah (Cavaleiro 78’) – N/A, Struggled to have much of an impact on the game after coming on. Fabio Carvalho (Lemina 78’) – N/A, Showed plenty of energy on his Premier League debut and came very close to creating an opening for himself. AP

Thomas Tuchel has praised Kai Havertz's attitude after the forward turned his Real Madrid disappointment into a muich-needed two-goal salvo against Fulham.

Havertz produced his best performance in chelsea colours by firing a fine brace in Saturday's 2-0 Premier League win over the Cottagers.

Blues manager Tuchel left Havertz out of the starting XI for Tuesday's 1-1 Champions League semi-final first leg draw at Real Madrid.

But the 21-year-old Germany star offered the perfect riposte against Fulham, laying on a glittering display in the false nine role.

Havertz's two goals helped Chelsea cement fourth place, leaving Tuchel delighted with both the result and the player's match-winning efforts.

"Still there is room for improvement but I am very happy," said Tuchel "He was decisive, he was involved with Timo Werner as a double striker and with Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech as the four offensive guys, he was always involved in dangerous attacks and situations.

"For me it was an important individual example. The players today who maybe had a tough decision on them last Tuesday, like Kai against Fulham, didn't play with the attitude that 'oh, now they need me' and 'I wanted more time in Madrid, why do they play me now only against Fulham'.

"This was absolutely not the case. He took his chance, he showed up, this is what we need all the time and especially in situations like this, you need guys who are fully committed. That means if you have a chance to show up, then show up.

"Whether you have five minutes, 15 minutes or a whole game, whatever it is, show that you are ready and give me a headache for the next game.

Gallery: Chelsea 2 Fulham 0

"He did that and it is an example for what the whole team did and they get full credit from me."

Chelsea's 18th clean sheet under Tuchel ensured the Blues will hang on to fourth place past the weekend, but the Stamford Bridge coach insisted the west Londoners cannot afford to ease up in the league.

Asked if a top-four finish is now Chelsea's to lose, Tuchel replied: "No, but I feel we have nothing to lose. We are in the middle of the race.

"I think it will continue, but it was such a big match to keep the advantage, we have worked so hard in the last week and like I said it is very important that we have a clear mind and nothing to regret for the Wednesday game against Madrid.

"Then comes the Wednesday game and then look at our fixtures, you see how tough it is. We take nothing for granted, we work hard and keep our head down, feet on the ground and try to do the best we can."

Fulham defender Joachim Andersen insisted the Whites still believe they can avoid the drop, despite trailing Newcastle United by nine points with four matches to play.

"Of course it can be done, it's football," Andersen told Fulham's club website. "We still have four games, we need to win those games and we need to believe in it until it's over.

"I believe in it, and I also feel the whole team believes in it. Of course we are really disappointed, we need the points, everyone can see that.

"The goals we gave away were too easy, too many small mistakes. When we do that we cannot win, especially against a really good team like Chelsea.