Ruben Loftus-Cheek gaining confidence as he bids to impress Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri after Fulham cameo

The 22-year-old came off the bench to score his side's second goal in a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Sunday

Ruben Loftus-Cheek hopes to continue to make an impression on Maurizio Sarri and force his way into the head coach's first-choice Chelsea team.

The 22-year-old came off the substitutes' bench to score in Sunday's 2-0 win over Fulham, his second goal providing a valuable cushion as Sarri later lamented the failure to kill off their opponents.

It was Loftus-Cheek's first Premier League appearance since October's win at Burnley and afterwards Sarri said the England midfielder has “solved me problems” in recent weeks.

“When I get time to play I am always doing my best,” Loftus-Cheek told the club’s official website. “This season it looked like I am getting time in the Europa League and I had to be ready for that.

“And if I do well in the Europa League then maybe I will get more minutes in the Premier League, like this game, and I will try to do my best.

“The more I play the better I feel and the better I play. Days like this I get my time to play and try to take it, whether that is a goal or an assist or making blocks.

“I have to do things both defensively and offensively."

Ruben Loftus-Cheek came off the bench to hit Chelsea's second goal (Getty)

Chelsea lost for the first time this season, ending an 18-match unbeaten competitive run, against Tottenham and responded with last Thursday's 4-0 Europa League win over PAOK.

Next for the Blues is Wednesday's Premier League clash at Wolves before Saturday's visit of leaders Manchester City to Stamford Bridge.

Fulham on Wednesday face Claudio Ranieri's former club Leicester, miraculous Premier League title winners in 2015-16 under the Italian.

The Cottagers boss said his side's performance in defeat at Chelsea was better than in victory over Southampton.

Left-back Maxime Le Marchand concurs and says there is optimism for the future.

“He's an Italian gaffer, so we work tactically and I think we're getting better, but there's still a few details we need to work on,” he told Fulham’s official website.

“We're getting better. We have a really good team spirit, which is good and helping us to improve. It's better and we are confident for the future.”