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Hernan Crespo's strike from Joe Cole's cross proved to be Chelsea's winner in a thrilling west London derby.
William Gallas opened the scoring for Chelsea with a deft finish after Robert Huth flicked on Frank Lampard's corner.
Brian McBride nearly equalised before Lampard's shot was deflected into the net off the hand of Sylvain Legwinski.
Petr Cech's error allowed McBride to slot home and a Cole foul led to Heidar Helguson making it 2-2 from the spot before Crespo volleyed in the winner.
Fulham's last London derby win was on New Year's Day, and their hopes of breaking that hoodoo took a serious dent when Gallas shot home after three minutes.
Helguson came close to levelling for Fulham when he got on the end of McBride's knock-down, but his shot was superbly smothered by Cech.
Despite their early advantage, Chelsea looked sluggish and it was a stroke of luck when Lampard doubled the lead, his shot from just outside the area ballooning off Legwinski's hand and into the net.
But McBride's pulled one back just before the break when Cech misjudged a swirling free-kick and let the ball bounce through his legs for the American to poke home and make it 2-1.
Early in the second half, Chelsea had strong penalty shouts rejected after Zat Knight seemed to handle the ball, and just minutes later it was 2-2 when Helguson scored from the spot after McBride was hauled down in the box by Cole.
Lampard had a goal ruled out for off-side and Fulham keeper Mark Crossley clawed a goalbound effort out of the air before going off injured.
And no sooner was replacement Tony Warner on than the ball was in his net, after Crespo thumped home Cole's pass to wrap up a 12th successive Chelsea home league win.
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