Chelsea kept their lead on the Premier League by doing enough to get past Fulham at Stamford Bridge.
Michael Essien turned form hero to villain when he was sent off late in the match for a straight red after his two-footed lunge on Clint Dempsey but his 30th minute winner was enough to give his side all three points.
The Ghanaian star headed home a Salomon Kalou cross on the half-hour mark and it proved to be the difference as Chelsea went to 28 points, four clear of Manchester United who played out a scoreless draw in the Manchester derby.
Chelsea: 1 (Michael Essien 30') Fulham: 0
Venue: Stamford Bridge, West London Crowd: 41,593 Referee: Martin Atkinson Yellow cards:CH - Michael Essien 50', Ashley Cole 76' FU - nil Red card:CH - Michael Essien 90'
Starting Line-Ups
Chelsea Petr Cech (gk), John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa (Ferreira 89'), John Obi Mikel, Yuri Zhirkov, Michael Essien, Florent Malouda (Ramires 78'), Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou (Sturridge 85')p>Subs - Ross Turnbull (gk), Ramires (78'), Daniel Sturridge (85'), Paulo Ferreira (89')
FulhamMark Schwarzer (gk), Brede Hangeland, Aaron Huges, Matthew Briggs (Gera 79'), Stephen Kelly, Dickson Etuhu, Danny Murphy, Damien Duff, Simon Davies, Mousse Dembele (A.Johnson 62'), Clint Dempsey
Subs -David Stockdale (gk), Andrew Johnson (62'), Zoltan Gera (79')
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