Brentford has risen above Chelsea following another victory at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea suffered their third home defeat of the season as Brentford preserved their unblemished record at Stamford Bridge with a merited 2-0 victory.
Ethan Pinnock took advantage of poor marking to put the visitors ahead shortly before the half-hour mark, after Mauricio Pochettino‘s side had failed to capitalize on a dominant first half.
There was no actual attacking danger or possibility of redemption after that, as the hosts took a frightening step back towards the goal-shy, cautious play that characterized the manager’s early games.
After joining his team’s attack for a corner, Robert Sanchez was embarrassed in added time when he failed to catch Neal Maupay in a foot race as he broke with the ball, allowing Bryan Mbeumo to score in an empty net to compound the home fans’ woes.
Chelsea’s record at Stamford Bridge is just one win in 13 league games, with their sole triumph here in seven months coming in August against Luton Town.
They were without Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk, two vital players in their recent run of form, who were both ruled out after picking up bruises in training on Friday.
Noni Madueke, in for his first start under Pochettino, replaced Mudryk, and he wasted no time in making his case to his manager, standing up Vitaly Janelt on the right side of the penalty box and extending his body to unleash a wicked, bending effort that banged the crossbar.
Chelsea had a hectic start. Conor Gallagher, captain again with Reece James just fit for the bench, stung Mark Flekken’s palms with a low shot from 30 yards.
Brentford has risen above Chelsea following another victory at Stamford Bridge.
Marc Cucurella got space after a fantastic ball into the box from Cole Palmer, but the defender was unable to find power or placement with his right foot.
Raheem Sterling appeared to be in a good mood. His spectacular move through the middle resulted in the ball breaking to Madueke, who shepherded it inside for Palmer to replace Sterling, who had continued his run. The play deserved a goal, but England’s attacker sent his shot into the Matthew Harding Stand.
Chelsea grew increasingly camped in the visitors’ half as the half progressed, moving concentration away from searching for the crucial pass in central positions and toward balls down the channels, where Madueke and Sterling would not let Brentford rest.
However, there was a sense of old habits creeping into Chelsea’s play, with the creative flow of recent weeks lacking. Pochettino remonstrated with a fan who questioned Nicolas Jackson’s lack of involvement at the end of the time, the manager of the mind that only supporting opinions were welcome, but surely aware privately of his team’s deficiencies.
Within minutes after the restart, Janelt was left to rue poor finishing after being left free 12 yards out but firing straight at Sanchez. It was a strong warning, but Chelsea’s defenders ignored it.
On 58 minutes, their kind marking struck once more, and Pinnock gratefully took the gift.
The move began with a clever link-up between Kristoffer Ajer and Mbeumo following a throw-in on the right, with Mbeumo afforded room to run to the byline and hoist a cross.
The delivery hovered high in the air before landing in the six yard box, where Axel Disasi did little more than watch as Pinnock surged past him and beat Thiago Silva to the ball, thumping his header home.
The shock shook Chelsea out of whatever groove they had established in the first half. They continued to hoard the ball, but Flekken was rarely put to the test as they pushed for an equalizer.
In the last minutes, substitute Yehor Yarmolyuk should have made it 2-0 on the break, but he was denied point-blank by Sanchez, before Mbeumo shot millimetres wide of the post.
Pochettino’s assistant Jesus Perez was sent off with frustrations between the two benches boiling over, and it got even worse for the home side with Mbeumo’s tap-in and the end of Chelsea’s mini-revival.
