Palmer Stars as Chelsea Edge Fulham in Five-Goal Derby

The visitors scored through Joao Pedro, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer and Fulham responded in an exciting West London derby with Joshua King and Gonzalo Garcia.

It was a start to which Chelsea could not have aspired.

Palmer was quick off the mark after 31 seconds to break away and chipped Joao Pedro over the Fulham defence. Brazilian remained stoic and raised his style over Bernd Leno to give the hosts a head start of 1-0.

It was the first ever goal of a season in the first home game of a Premier League season.

Fulham rallied back and steadily started to cause issues for Chelsea's defence.

They got their revenge in the 23rd minute when King came back up the field and joined Timothy Castagne before smashing a potent shot along the byline towards the goal.

Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez saved himself from being made futsal against by the effort but his defense was still level at 1-1.

The hosts went on the attack again but four minutes before the end of the first half, Chelsea found the equalizing net.

Palmer was positioned forward with Maxence Lacroix and the defender was able to move forward and boot the ball back to Rogers.

The summer signing dominated deliveries before opening the floodgates on his competitive bowlers debut for Chelsea.

The second half began brightly for Alonso and they soon built up their lead.

Joao Pedro retained the possession of the ball very well and set up Palmer for the left of the box.

The England midfielder went through Leno's legs from a tight angle to make it 3-1 after picking up the ball and beating the goalkeeper from a close range.

Fulham wouldn't give up.

A long ball exposed Chelsea's defence five minutes later, forcing Sanchez to another tricky save. The goalkeeper went to his own end, and Garcia had the quickest head to parry the ball into his own half and head home on his Premier League debut to cut the deficit to 3-2.

The goal shifted the momentum of the game and Fulham desperately knocked for an equaliser.

King was particularly dangerous in the 73rd minute when he was able to go wide, but Antonee Robinson had a big chance five minutes later when he broke through the Chelsea defence and failed to control his lob attempt on target.

That was met with a number of changes from Chelsea as Alonso struggled to make the save in the final moments, with Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Geovany Quenda and Estevao all getting a look as part of the changes.

Palmer was denied a chance to impress in the 60th minute, before leaving the field in the 83rd minute in the midst of two of Chelsea's three goals, both of which he had been directly involved in.

Chelsea had the opportunity to score their fourth in the 90th minute after Joao Pedro's shot on target was saved, but the goal was disallowed because of Quenda's offside position in the build-up.

Fulham pressed on to the very end but Chelsea defended their cause to keep all three points.

Rogers had a great competitive debut after his £117m switch and Lacroix had an assist too for the second goal at Chelsea.

Alonso's win was a welcome win after a miserable end to the previous season after he was handed the keys to the Chelsea machine.

Meanwhile, Fulham's attacking talent was evident in Alvaro Arbeloa's debut and ended up getting away with it when it mattered most, except that it was not enough against the efficient Chelsea.