Carlo Ancelotti insisted Chelsea remain on course to finish in the top four as he defended his decision to drop Didier Drogba against Fulham.
The Blues failed to secure the win needed to lift them back into the Champions League places as new signing Fernando Torres endured another game to forget for the faltering champions.
It would have been even worse for Ancelotti's men but for a stoppage-time penalty save by Petr Cech from Fulham's Clint Dempsey.
But the Chelsea boss was happy with his side's performance and that of £50million striker Torres.
"The most important thing is to finish in the top four," said Ancelotti.
"I think we will be able to do this if we play like we did tonight.
"I'm an optimist and there's good reason to have confidence.
"The football we showed tonight was good, and we have to continue it."
He added: "I think that we deserved to win this game. We could lose it, but Petr Cech saved a penalty with a fantastic save.
"It was a good performance, especially in the second half.
"We put them under a lot of pressure, did not concede opportunities for them to come forward, and we created opportunities."
Torres missed four chances either side of half-time to open his Chelsea account in a woeful display from the Spaniard, who endured chants of 'What a waste of money' from the Fulham fans just over a week after being taunted by Liverpool supporters.
But Ancelotti, who eventually replaced Torres with Drogba, said: "Fernando played well.
"He had some opportunities in the first half and I took him out just to use Didier fresh and with power. That's the only reason I changed him.
"His performance was better than that against Liverpool.
"Every striker wants to score. I don't think he's frustrated because he needs time to play with us and, after one week, he was really better tonight after that first performance."
Explaining his decision to axe Drogba, Ancelotti said: "I don't know if Didier was happy, but every player knows every game is important. It doesn't matter.
"We wanted to rotate to maintain his condition and to give everyone great motivation."
The biggest bright spot for Chelsea was the performance of Torres' fellow new boy David Luiz, who shone on his full debut despite conceding the stoppage-time penalty.
"Maybe he was tired," said Ancelotti.
"He'd played a very good game, showing fantastic ability as a defender and as a player.
"He had a fantastic pass for Torres in the first half. That's good news for us."
Fulham boss Mark Hughes claimed Dempsey's penalty should have been retaken, suggesting referee Mike Dean knew as much.
"Drogba was encroaching in the box," he said.
"Mike Dean saw it: he was alongside Clint as he kicked it. Mike Dean saw that, so it should have been retaken."
Cech's save denied Fulham a sixth straight home win and only their second derby victory over Chelsea in 29 attempts.
Hughes added: "Given the circumstances at the end, it's disappointment.
"We came up against a strong Chelsea side who posed questions of us in the second half, and we had to be strong and resilient.
"But it was a real opportunity to beat a very good side at the end.
"We've been playing well of late and showed real character to dig in and create chances at the other end."
Hughes was not surprised by Ancelotti's decision to axe one of Drogba or Torres.
"We sensed there might be a change," said Hughes, who revealed Cottagers defender Brede Hangeland played despite suffering from "a raging temperature" this afternoon.
"The talk was about rotation leading up to the game, different systems, so we thought one of them might start from the bench.
"They've got big games coming up.
"Maybe Carlo thought this would be a good game for Fernando to start."
