Premier League – Chelsea vs Brentford: Manchester City are in an intense title race on top of the Prem. With them well clear of the rest of the division, despite struggles off the field, Chelsea were impeccable on the field. They were favourites to finish in the third position, leaving other teams to fight it out for the final UCL spot.
Saturday was supposed to be just another routine three-point fixture for the club against cross-town club Brentford. However, Thomas Frank’s men pulled off one of the best results in the club’s history.
The visitors were looking threatening right from kickoff and for most of the first half were the better team. However, the hosts did regain control as the contest progressed. Both teams failed to get on the score sheet as the game went into halftime.
The second half started with Rudiger scoring a beauty to put the Blues 1-0 up. However, the game turned on its head following that.
Only minutes later Janelt completed the attack started by Mbuemo to equalise. This was immediately followed by a Chelsea corner, which the Bees manage to defend and Mbuemo once again starts a counter-attack, which reaches an unmarked Eriksen who takes a 1-2 lead.
Janelt scored his second of the afternoon when he chipped Mendy from a tight angle to give Brentford a two-goal lead. Wissa sealed the 1-4 result when he punished Rudiger’s poor clearance from a set piece to score the 4th goal for his side.
Premier League – Chelsea vs Brentford: Player ratings
Chelsea: Mendy (5), Azpilicueta (5), Rudiger (7), Silva (6), Alonso (4), Kante (5), Loftus-Cheek (5), Mount (5), Werner (4), Ziyech (6), Havertz (5).
Subs: James (6), Kovacic (6), Lukaku (5).
Brentford: Raya (8), Henry (7), Pinnock (7), Jansson (7), Ajer (8), Norgaard (8), Eriksen (8), Janelt (9), Roerslev (7), Mbeumo (8), Toney (7).
Subs: Jensen (6), Wissa (8) Canos (N/A).
Man of the Match: Vitaly Janelt
Managers’ reaction
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel: “We lost control in 10 minutes. 3-1 within 10 minutes was decisive. We lacked energy today and we looked mentally and physically tired after being around the world. We thought we got the result [at 1-0] but we forgot we still had 40 minutes to play.
“After so many wins and so many good results I refuse to make a drama out of it because why should we. Brentford made a lot of the 10 minutes we gave them. After the third goal we had a disallowed goal, we had a pressing situation against the goalkeeper, a big, big chance for Havertz, we missed three of them and a feeling ‘this is not our day’. There are some reasons we can put on us and we will analyse.”
Brentford manager Thomas Frank: “Christian is a top player, an unbelievable character and he brings quality and calmness to the team. You can give it to Christian and he’ll always find a solution.
“From the beginning I thought ‘everything has been checked in his entire body’. He didn’t have an injury like an ACL. When he took that decision he wanted to play in the World Cup, he had that determination: ‘I want to come back into football’
“His foundation physically was quite good. We never knew how quick it would take to get to this level but it’s impressive how quick.
“Today I was a genius – next Sunday I might be an unbelievable mad man! That’s football. When you play against the best team we need to defend well. The back three is much more difficult to break down.”
