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FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE – Chelsea made life difficult for themselves and still managed a 2-1 victory over Brentford on Sunday night.
The Blues took a 2-0 lead despite wasting a host of chances before Bryan Mbeumo forced a nervy conclusion with a goal in the 90th minute. The Bees couldn’t find a way through, but Marc Cucurella was on target. nervous enough to receive a second yellow card after the final whistle.
The victory, although a test, puts Chelsea just two points behind league leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
How the game developed
On a sleepy Sunday afternoon, unusually lacking the intensity of a mid-December night, both teams made their way into this west London derby.
The lack of fluidity seeping into both sides was captured by a three-second sequence in which Mads Roerslev and Marc Cucurella took turns shooting the ball at their own teammate while aiming at a completely different colleague.
Fittingly, it took a mistake for the first clear view of the goal to emerge. Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken didn’t even find the abdomen of another Brentford player with his wayward pass in the closing stages of the first half, instead rolling the ball straight into the path of Noni Madueke. The Dutch goalkeeper quickly recovered from his mistake, deflecting Madueke’s low shot past the far post.
That opening encouraged the hosts, sparking a late burst that culminated in a first header goal for Cucurella. Sneaking between Sepp van den Berg and Roerslev, the diminutive Chelsea full-back met Madueke’s perfectly measured cross at the far post, producing two audible blows as first his forehead and then his hair connected with the ball.
Chelsea fixed the loose touches that had marred the first half to exert greater dominance after the interval, locking Brentford not only in their own half but also in their defensive third for large swathes. Nicolas Jackson wasted a glorious opening to double Chelsea’s lead, slotting home from inside the six-yard box after a penetrating move from Jadon Sancho.
Sancho found himself in front of goal again shortly after. Walking towards a filtered ball from Cole Palmer, the Manchester United loanee evaded Flekken but went too wide. Sancho skillfully rolled the ball past the goalkeeper on the byline, but was unable to give the ball to a teammate.
Emboldened by Thomas Frank’s proactive approach, three Brentford substitutes almost made Chelsea pay for their inefficiency. Kristoffer Ajer assisted Fabio Carvalho, whose shot hit the crossbar. Kevin Schade, another substitute, skied the follow-through.
Jackson doubled the home team’s lead in the 80th minute. Taking advantage of Brentford’s desperation, the failed striker found the bottom corner, turning Ethan Pinnock inside out in the process.
Mbeumo’s 90th-minute goal was little more than a consolation, but the post-match brawl that earned Cucurella a second yellow card could prove costly in the coming weeks.
Full player ratings for Chelsea 2-1 Brentford can be found here.
It could always be the hair. Like a superhero’s cape, Cucurella’s cartoonish movement is enhanced by his flowing mane. The image of perpetual motion hardly takes your breath away.
At the start of the second half, the Chelsea left-back found himself charging towards the right side of the pitch with no other intention than to elbow him between the shoulder blades of Yoane Wissa. Cucurella is not always so chaotic.
The Euro 2024 winner was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the corridor of uncertainty that always exists between a full-back and a full-back centre-back. It was not the first nor the last appearance of Cucurella in that area of the grass. But then again, it apparently covered every other blade of grass.
Cucurella’s unique brand of chaos cannot be limited to the confines of one match. After the referee’s whistle blew, the argumentative side managed to earn the red card after receiving his second yellow card.
Stamford Bridge rose in unison to applaud Jackson off the pitch. However, an increasingly restless crowd had spent much of the previous 80 minutes bemoaning their number 15.
From the opening whistle, Jackson seemed intent on marking his 50th Premier League appearance with a goal. The Senegalese international headed wide in the first three minutes and finished the match with a match-high seven shots. Jackson’s clearest vision of goal came in the 60th minute, but he somehow conspired to deflect Sancho’s cutback over the bar.
With his final effort of a typically enthusiastic display, Jackson finally found the bottom corner to score his 23rd goal in England’s top flight. For comparison, Didier Drogba only scored 20 goals in his first 50 Premier League games.
Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium isn’t everyone’s cup of tea; Unlike its predecessor, Griffin Park, for starters, lacks a pub on every corner; However, the Bees value the comforts of home more than any other Premier League club.
From what Frank has repeatedly called “a little bus stop in Hounslow”, Brentford have taken 22 points from a possible 24, the best tally of any team in the division. However, Sunday’s result leaves them with one point from eight trips.
The identity of Brentford’s opponents offers a simple explanation. Chelsea are the sixth team from last season’s top eight to host the Bees. On the contrary, none of the members of the traditional elite have traveled to Gtech so far.
