On a Pedro Neto swivel, perhaps at last Chelsea’s season may turn. As the winger spun and thrashed a ferocious stoppage-time winner into the Fulham net, his next move was to twist again and make straight for an away end who could celebrate their side winning on the road in the Premier League for the first time in more than four months. The comeback, to win 1-2 from a goal down, was eerie in similarity and timing to Fulham’s own in the reverse fixture, academy graduate Tyrique George cancelling out Alex Iwobi’s strike with his first league goal before Neto burgled three points at the death, just as Rodrigo Muniz had at Stamford Bridge earlier this term. Into the final ten minutes here, Marco Silva’s side were on course to record a first-ever league double over their west London rivals, revive their European hopes and leave Chelsea’s own hanging by a thread, at least as far as the Champions League is concerned. Instead came a late response that, in truth, Fulham invited with a notable second-half drop-off. If not the performance, then the scenes at full-time will give Enzo Maresca hope, not only that a flagging side can now be re-energised for the run-in, but of rebuilding his own brittle connection with Chelsea supporters, which has come under heavy strain of late. The reaction from some supporters at half-time, when Chelsea trailed 1-0, was not complimentary. His team booed off despite reaching a European semi-final in midweek, Maresca’s proclamations about how long Chelsea have spent in the top-four this season have drawn ridicule from supporters, who rightly point out it matters only where they end up. After wins for Manchester City and Aston Villa on Saturday, nothing less than three points here would have done. With them, the Blues climb back into the Champions League places, at least until Nottingham Forest play Tottenham on Monday night. A sign of the importance of this contest came in the fact that Reece James was picked to start just three days after playing 90 minutes in the Conference League, when Maresca again stressed his concern at using the 25-year-old in back-to-back games. It backfired spectacularly. James was caught in possession by Ryan Sessegnon for the opening goal and hooked at half-time. At that stage, this did not look a Chelsea team capable of a second-half response. That James cried foul in the aftermath of that Iwobi strike, berating referee Anthony Taylor, was typical of a first-half display in which individuals refused to take responsibility for another miserable collective show. When things turn against this Chelsea, it seems, there is always someone else to blame, and for the rest of the first half, raw emotion was channelled into petulant fouls, attitude and body language each as bad as the football, if not worse. Even into the second, an air of undue entitlement remained, best summed up when Moises Caicedo kicked a free-kick straight out of play, then demanded a retake. And yet, from almost nowhere, in that remarkable ten-minute finale, they showed a spirit of which we knew not. George was a last-resort introduction for the ineffective Jackson, but took his goal smartly from Neto’s knock-down. The Portuguese’s turn and finish, from Enzo Fernandez’s pass, was even better. Between them, those goals papered over the cracks of a performance that did not convince anyone that Chelsea will emerge from a tricky final five fixtures among the best five teams in the land. Maresca said himself this week that they won’t unless Cole Palmer and Jackson start scoring; here their respective droughts extended to 16 and 13 games. But belief has been as lacking as any quality during a “midseason slump” that has now spanned pretty much half of Chelsea’s campaign. If a turnaround like this does not restore it, it is hard to think anything will.