Chelsea were defeated by Brentford at Stamford Bridge for a third straight time, with the Bees winning 2-0 against their London rivals. With the win, Thomas Frank’s men have climbed up to 10th place in the Premier League table with 13 points while the Blues remain 11th with 12 from 10 games.
Bryan Mbeumo was the hero of the game, assisting the opening goal scored by Ethan Pinnock before getting on the scoresheet himself late in the game. The forward rolled the ball into an empty net after Robert Sanchez had gone to the other end of the field for a corner, but the decision didn’t pay off as Chelsea were stung on the counter attack.
After winning two Premier League games and drawing against title contenders Arsenal, Mauricio Pochettino’s men were finally given a reality check by their London rivals in the form of their fourth defeat in 10 games.
Brentford bring Chelsea back to earth with a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge
Mykhaylo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez and Armando Broja were all sidelined for the game, in spite of featuring in recent weeks. In spite of spending over a billion pounds, the Blues did not have a single senior attacker available on the bench, which highlights the dire situation they find themselves in.
However, they started with Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Raheem Sterling and Noni Madueke all on the field. The first half saw Pochettino’s men come up with multiple creative ways to beat the low block. But, in spite of their numerous opportunities in the first half, they could not find the back of the net.
And in the 58th minute, Pinnock headed the ball into the back of the net to completely change the game. Chelsea looked void of ideas, and were helplessly passing the ball around from side to side in the last half an hour of the game.
The ‘underlying numbers’ show that Chelsea should be higher up on the table than they are. But unless they can become more consistent in front of goal, the results just won’t come their way.