Thiago Silva and Christopher Nkunku scored during an impressive first-half showing, and we remained solid after the interval in the scorching heat to maintain our good pre-season form.

Dominant in west London derby

Mauricio Pochettino handed first starts of the summer to youngsters Gabriel Slonina and Mason Burstow. Thiago Silva was among those to return to the team.

The Blues had looked the more threatening from the off and we deservedly went ahead in the 20th minute. Ben Chilwell’s inswinging corner was met by Thiago Silva who crashed a header past Bernd Leno, much to the delight of the majority inside FedEx Field.

We had chances to double our advantage before Nkunku did just that with five minutes to play until the break.

Chilwell had a shot saved and from the rebound Raheem Sterling saw his effort deflected just wide. Then Enzo had two bites of the cherry at the end of a slick Chelsea move, including some fine awareness from Sterling and Nkunku, but his efforts lacked the conviction and direction to hit the net.

However, on 40 minutes, Nkunku could not miss after Leno had superbly kept out Carney Chukwuemeka’s fierce shot. His save only diverted the ball into the Frenchman’s path, showcasing his predatory instincts. Three goals already represents a very promising start to Christopher's Chelsea career!

Nkunku was the only outfielder to remain on the pitch once a flurry of substitutions had been made at the start of the second half, although he would be replaced by Lewis Hall on the hour.

One of those introduced, Trevoh Chalobah, limped off at the same time so Alfie Gilchrist got his first minutes of the tour.

The tempo of our play was affected by the changes although Nicolas Jackson did look a menace over the top. Gilchrist made an excellent sliding clearance to cut out Andreas Pereira’s threatening pass, Fulham’s most dangerous moment by far up to that point.

It needed Lucas Bergstrom, on for Slonina, to impressively thwart the Cottagers’ first on-target attempt of the afternoon. Conor Gallagher was kept out at the other end.

With 23 players used and a controlled, assured performance, Pochettino will have been pleased with what he saw today as the big kick-off, just a fortnight away now, comes into view. A trophy is a bonus!

What it means…

The Blues finish the Premier League Summer Series with two wins and a draw. Seven points is enough to ensure we finish top of the six-team competition!

What’s next…

Our final pre-season fixture is against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in Chicago. The team fly north to Illinois straight after this game to start preparing for that heavyweight clash.

The teams…

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Slonina (Bergstrom 61); Gusto (James h/t), Thiago Silva (c) (Chalobah h/t) (Gilchrist 60), Humphreys (Colwill h/t), Chilwell (Cucurella h/t); Fernandez (Gallagher 46), Santos (Casadei 46); Sterling (Maatsen 46), Chukwuemeka (Angelo 47), Nkunku (Hall 61); Burstow (Jackson 46)

Chelsea substitutes Kepa, Moreira, Mudryk

Goalscorers Thiago Silva 20, Nkunku 41

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete (Mbabu 66), Diop, De Fougerolles (Bassey h/t), Robinson; Reed (Stansfield 81), Lukic (Harris 81); Wilson (Dibley-Dias 81), Cairney (c) (Decordova Reid 18), Willian (Andreas 66); Vinicius (Jimenez h/t)

Fulham substitutes Rodak, Borto, Parkes, Odutayo, McCoy-Splatt, Godo, Amissah