By Samuel A. December 15, 2024
Chelsea survived a late Brentford fightback to win the west London derby and take their successive wins to seven, closing the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to just two points. The Blues had not beaten Brentford at Stamford Bridge in the league since 1946, but goals from Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson were enough, despite Bryan Mbeumo’s 90th minute strike, which scared the hosts.
Cucurella’s diving header put Enzo Maresca’s side ahead just before halftime, though a string of missed opportunities by the hosts kept the game in the balance and Brentford hit the woodwork, moments before Jackson’s well taken effort doubled Chelsea’s advantage. Mbeumo slotted under the otherwise impressive Robert Sanchez at the start of seven additional minutes but The Bees could not force another chance meaning Chelsea can go top for at least a few hours with victory over Everton next week.
Liverpool have a game in hand over Chelsea and the sides do not meet again until the final weeks of the Premier League season, while Brentford drop out of the top half thanks to the defeat and Tottenham hammering Southampton.
The Bees were toothless for much of the game, and it was only the introduction of Fabio Carvalho, Kevin Schade and Kristoffer Ajer with 15 minutes to go that sparked the visitors into life at Stamford Bridge.
After notching just one shot in the first half, Brentford began to pepper Sanchez’s goal and only a sublime fingertip save prevented Christian Norgaard from equalising, moments before Carvalho slammed an effort into the crossbar and onto the goalline, with the ball cruelly bouncing back into the six-yard box instead of the net. However, with Brentford finally starting to commit numbers forward in attack, space opened up for Jackson to pounce and despite a healthy dose of injury time, the visitors couldn’t make Mbeumo’s bolt from the blue truly count.
It wasn’t a vintage Chelsea performance, but on the weekend that Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City all had their wings clipped in the Premier League, three points suited Maresca however they came.
Chelsea had all the ball in the first half and a series of fine Mark Flekken played a major part in keeping the deficit manageable for Brentford for so long, the Dutchman stretching to deny both Jackson and Noni Madueke from close range in the space of just a few minutes.
The Blues did not create many gilt-edged chances but that was more a product of Brentford’s disciplined defending – led by Sepp van den Berg – that prevented Jackson, Madueke and Cole Palmer linking up to truly devastating effect.
Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo enjoyed another game successfully dictating the tempo and Chelsea always seemed more likely to score next as they cast more and more doubt on Maresca’s assertion that the Blues are not title contenders.
