Our development squad were able to get past Fulham in this afternoon's west London derby as, despite some nervy moments towards the end of the game, our young Blues were relatively comfortable in their victory.

Cesare Casadei slotted home impressively to open the scoring as his shot from just inside the box found the corner of the net.

It was not until the second period that we doubled our lead and it was Mason Burstow who finished well to get the ball beyond the goalkeeper. The third came through a combination of Harvey Vale - a second-half substitute - and Bashir Humphreys, as the latter powered a header into the back of the net.

Goals by Fulham's Callum McFarlane and Oliver Sanderson made it a tense affair towards the end of the match, but Malik Mothersille put any chance of a turnaround to bed with another smart finish as we grabbed a fourth.

Our development squad were faced with a tough task in the form of our west-London rivals Fulham on Sunday afternoon. Having been on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat to the same opponents at Kingsmeadow, our young Blues sought victory.

Lucas Bergstrom and Harvey Vale, who both returned from loans earlier in the week, returned to the development squad, with the former in from the start and the latter on the bench.

Sharp start

We got off to the best possible start as Casadei swept home following a Hutchinson pass. Mothersille found the winger, who cushioned a pass into the path of Casadei, and he converted without hesitation with a left-footed shot.

It had been a great start even before then as we were forcing our opponents into errors, which put us in great positions to double our lead. We controlled the first period and were unlucky not to add a second as the tricky Hutchinson found his way into the box, but his right-footed shot was parried away by goalkeeper Borto.

Fulham’s only threatening moment in the first half came through Adrion Pajaziti, whose shot inside the penalty area was easily saved by Bergstrom.

The second half saw us start under intense pressure from our opponents as they controlled the ball in our half. We were remaining resolute, but the Cottagers were getting closer. Harris went on a mazy run and his eventual shot struck the post. The home side were firing warning signs to our young Blues.

Relieving pressure

Despite this, we contained them well and went down the other end to double our lead as Mothersille held the ball up well to feed Burstow, who slotted past the keeper. That is now two goals in as many games for the striker.

A gilt-edged chance fell the way of Harvey Araujo, as he was on the end of a good cross, but his attempted volley inside the box flew over the bar.

Mothersille and Hutchinson both had chances to grab what would have been a third and give us an added cushion, but Borto made two top-quality saves to keep his side in the game.

In his first appearance since returning from his loan spell at Hull City, second-half substitute Vale delivered a wicked cross with his first touch, which found Humphreys' head to give us a third.

Nervy moments

Fulham pulled a goal back through McFarlane as Araujo put in a great cross which found his head. With eight minutes to go, the home side scored another as a well-worked free-kick found Sanderson lurking at the back post and he tapped into the net.

Fulham pushed for an equaliser but, as they flooded players forward, we used that to our advantage and secured the all-important fourth of the game when Mothersille finished well after being slotted through on goal by Hutchinson.

Another win for our development squad, who return to the summit of the PL2 and make it four wins on the bounce in the same competition.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Lucas Bergstrom; Josh Brooking (Zak Sturge 89), Alfie Gilchrist, Bashir Humphreys, Dylan Williams (Brodi Hughes 89); Charlie Webster, Cesare Casadei; Dion Rankine, Omari Hutchinson, Malik Mothersille; Mason Burstow (Harvey Vale 62)
Unused subs: Ted Curd, Derrick Abu
Booked: Hutchinson 40, Humphreys 62
Scorers: Casadei 4, Burstow 56, Humphreys 66, Mothersille 89

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Alexander Borto; Luciano D’Auria Henry, Harvey Araujo, Charlie Robinson, Connor McAvoy, Matthew Dibley-Dias, Sonny Hilton, Adrion Pajaziti (Devon Tanton 82), Terry Ablade (Callum McFarlane 46), Luke Harris, Oliver Sanderson
Unused subs: Michael Allen, Georgios Okkas, Jay Williams
Booked: Robinson 30, McAvoy 50, Harris 79
Scorers: McFarlane 73, Sanderson 82