Willian put the hosts ahead against his former side in the first half, before Kalidou Koulibaly equalised early in the second, but Vinicius’ winner saw Fulham move up to sixth in the Premier League.
Chelsea’s defeat increases the pressure on manager Graham Potter with the Blues now having won only twice in 10 matches in all competitions.
Joao Felix, who only joined Chelsea on Wednesday in a £9.7m loan deal until the end of the season from Atletico Madrid, was shown a straight red card for a horrible lunge on defender Kenny Tete after 58 minutes and will now be suspended for three matches.
Joao Felix had been the visitors’ best player before his dismissal left his side on the back foot and the 10 men duly conceded the winner to Vinicius.
There was a party atmosphere among the home fans at Craven Cottage at the final whistle.
This was only Fulham’s fourth win in 53 top-flight matches against Chelsea, and ended a run of 20 Premier League games without a win against the Blues since a 1-0 victory in March 2006.
Fulham now move up to sixth in the Premier League, although they have played two more games than Liverpool, the side they have climbed above.
Nevertheless, this result still continues an incredible campaign for Marco Silva’s Fulham, who won promotion from the Championship last season.
In the build-up to this match, club captain Tom Cairney said the players were not “thinking at all” about the possibility of qualifying for Europe next season, but the Fulham fans will be starting to dream of what could happen in the rest of the campaign.
What made this result even more special for Silva was the fact he was without 11-goal top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic, but Vinicius proved to be an able deputy and his goal sent the Fulham fans home happy.
For Chelsea, European football is already looking a long way off. They have just 25 points from their opening 18 Premier League games this season, their fewest at this stage since 2015-16, the only season since 1996-97 when they have failed to qualify for Europe.
Credit: BBC Sports
I hope this Chelsea is not going on relegation this season