Chelsea edge past Brentford courtesy Ben Chilwell's goal

Ben Chilwell's goal on the stroke of half time and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy's outstanding performance helped Chelsea to the top of the table.

Ben Chilwell's lone strike helped Chelsea beat Brentford in the Premier League fixture on Saturday; Credit: Twitter/@ChelseaFC
By Sreejith C R | Oct 17, 2021 | 4 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Chelsea beat Brentford 1-0 on Saturday, courtesy of Ben Chilwell’s first half strike and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s outstanding performance. After wins for Liverpool and Manchester City on Saturday, the pressure was on Chelsea to keep up the pace in the title race, and they returned to the top of the table with their sixth win of the season. It was once again a brilliant performance from new comers Brentford against one of the Premier League heavyweights. Bryan Mbeumo hit the post twice and Saman Ghoddos and Christian Norgaard were denied by Mendy’s heroics.

The first clear chance of the match fell to hosts, midway through the first half. Norgaard’s header down in the area fell to Mbeumo, eight yards out and the 22-year-old’s attempt hit woodwork. The visitors immediately counter-attacked through Timo Werner, who squared for Romelu Lukaku to tap home, but the linesman raised his flag for off-side.

Werner got a very good chance when Lukaku held the ball pretty well to set up the German on the edge of the box. But the 25-year-old’s shot went high and wide. He should have done better. Werner once again missed a very good opportunity as he was found behind by Cesar Azpilicueta but the German’s poor decision to square for Lukaku rather than take the shot allowed Pontus to intercept.

The Blues did break the deadlock, three minutes from time. Lukaku lost out to Jansson trying to get a connection on Azpilicueta’s cross and the ball popped out to Chilweel, who smashed it past David Raya with a left-footed first time volley from 15 yards. It was the English left-back’s third goal in as many games for club and country. He is in rich goal scoring form, having scored his first international goal against Andorra last Saturday.

Mendy’s heroics for Chelsea

Brentford came out with a bit more intent in the second half and grew in confidence as the game progressed. The home side regularly threatened the Chelsea defence with long balls. Zanka’s flick on from a long throw fell to Toney and his shot forced a reaction save from Mendy. Few minutes later, Marcus Forss laid the ball to Mbeumo but his shot hit the woodwork.

It was Brentford’s attack versus Chelsea defence in the last few moments. Mendy bravely blocked Ghoddos down low before stopping Jansson’s effort from point-blank range with his head. Norgaard produced a brilliant overhead kick from 10 yards but Mendy made a superb reflex save to tip the ball over the bar.

Despite the defeat, Brentford can hold their heads high as they produced a brilliant performance against title-contenders. Brentford are seventh in the table with 12 points from eight games and it was only their second defeat of the 2021-22 Premier League campaign.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank on Sky Sports: “I’m very proud of our performances. Over the 90 minutes, there can only be one certain winner and that’s us by a large margin in terms of how many chances we created. Five big chances. We kept the champions of Europe, the number one in Premier League to five shots in the whole game.

“That’s very impressive. I know they dominated the ball a little bit more in the first half but in the end, we were all over them. I’m pleased with that and it’s what we need to build on going forward.

“They nicked a win. They got a very, very lucky win here today and that’s why it’s so impressive. Three months ago, four months ago they won the Champions League and we got promoted through the play-offs. That’s why it’s very impressive what we’re doing out there. If you play this game again, we win nine out of 10. It should be the other way around. I really want to build on this.”

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel on Sky Sports: “This clean sheet is down to Edou today. Maybe not the cleanest sheet we ever had but very important to get the three points. In the end, the last 20 minutes was suddenly a cup game! They had nothing to lose, they found some momentum with the crowd and suddenly it seemed like we had one player less on the field.

“They put six, seven guys into the box constantly, we were not clear enough in the challenges, and in the first touches and second touches they had more belief.

“They played like the attitude in a cup game. We focused too much on defending. I was happy with the first 65, 70 minutes. We should have scored one more.”





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