It was only their second victory of a torrid December spanning eight games and Ancelotti is pleased the month is over.

“Yes I’m satisfied. It was not a good December for us but that month is finished and now we look forward to January,” he said.

“We can do better and maintain our position at the top of the table.”

It was a far from convincing performance against in-form Fulham, who opened the scoring when Zoltan Gera pounced after John Terry failed to clear.

Chelsea, who picked Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou for the last time before the African Nations Cup, enjoyed lots of possession but made little impression until the closing stages, when they struck twice in two minutes.

Drogba notched the first when he rose above Chris Baird to nod home a Branislav Ivanovic cross before Chris Smalling, making his full debut, was responsible for a cruel own goal.

Ancelotti was delighted by his players’ response in adversity.

“This match didn’t come at a good time for us,” said the Italian. “We went behind and the most important thing is the reaction in the second half, which was fantastic.

“With this performance we finished a difficult period for the team.

“This could be an important victory in the season because I’m very happy with the reaction of the team during a bad spell.”

Fulham lost John Pantsil to a twisted knee and Hodgson fears the Ghana player could miss the rest of the season.

“We’ll scan John here because at the moment his knee is sufficiently bad that we wouldn’t want to put him on a flight,” he said.

“When he’s fit enough to travel for Ghana to look at him he’s welcome to go. We’re not trying to keep him out of the African Nations Cup.

“I’m more concerned that he will miss the rest of the season because I always fear the worst when players twist their knees.”