Edouard Mendy the hero as Chelsea survive 'hell on earth' at Brentford to go top

Bryan Mebeumo was out of luck, hitting the post twice, as Thomas Frank's men failed to get at least the point they deserved

Sat, 16 Oct, 2021 - 19:47

Gerry Cox

Premier League: Brentford 0 Chelsea 1 (Chilwell 45)

Edouard Mendy was surprisingly not one of the five Chelsea players nominated for the upcoming Ballon d'Or award, but Thomas Tuchel had his French goalkeeper to thank for this hard-fought win against a battling Brentford side.

Victory at local rivals and Premier League new boys Brentford meant Chelsea returned to the top of the Premier League, leapfrogging Liverpool who had overtaken them for five hours by winning at Watford. Ben Chilwell's third goal in three games for club and country settled a cracking West London derby, but Mendy was man of the match with a string of spectacular and brave saves to keep a clean sheet against an unfortunate Brentford side, who had the European champions on the ropes for most of the second half.

While Chelsea's €100m striker Romelu Lukaku had another bad day at the office, hitting one shot over the bar from six yards before being hooked by Tuchel with 20 minutes to go, Ivan Toney was denied twice by Mendy, who also made spectacular saves from Marcus Forss, Pontuss Jansson, Sdaman Ghoddos, and Christian Norgaard. Toney's strike partner Bryan Mebeumo was also out of luck, hitting the post twice, as Thomas Frank's men failed to get at least the point they deserved.

It was not a vintage display from Chelsea by any measure, although there were extenuating circumstances. Tuchel had to reshuffle his defence, with Antonio Rudiger injured and Thiago Silva in isolation following his return from international duty. It meant a Premier League debut for Malang Sarr, the French under-21 international who was signed last summer.

With Trevoh Chalobah keeping his place, Chelsea's back three had an inexperienced look, and needed to be on high alert against Brentford's lively strike pairing of Toney and Mbeumo. The latter went close to opening the scoring, in the 22nd minute, when he shot against the post from close range. Chelsea seized on the rebound, shuttled the ball forward quickly to the opposite goalmouth, and although Lukaku converted Timo Werner's low cross, the Belgian was offside.

Both strikers struggled again, missing decent chances. Lukaku fired a free-kick high and wide before setting up Werner for a simple chance that he managed to put wide.

In the end, it was Chilwell who showed them how to finish with an exquisite volley on the stroke of half-time.

The former Leicester left-back had marked his return to the starting line-up with a volleyed goal in Chelsea's previous game, against Southampton a fortnight ago, and his strike here was even sweeter. N'Golo Kante and Cesar Azpilicueta combined to cross from the right, and when the ball was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, Chilwell met it with a thigh-high volley that flew past David Reya into the net.

The European champions had just edged the first half but after the break, it was a different story, as Brentford threw everything they had at the Blues, who were grateful to Mendy for a string of superb saves. First he tipped over a half-volley from Toney, then slid out of his area to deny Marcus Forss. The luckless Mbeumo hit the woodwork again before Mendy saved from Ghoddos and then got his head in the way of Jansson's point-blank shot.

Chalobah had to clear off the line, Norgaard's overhead shot was tipped over by Mendy in stoppage time, and when Anthony Taylor blew the final whistle, Chelsea's players celebrated with the overwhelming feeling being relief.

“In the last 20 to 30 minutes they (Brentford) were really pushing on and it was hell on earth,” said Chilwell afterwards.

Tuchel compared it to a cup game. “Respect to Brentford. In the last 25 minutes, it seemed like we had one player less than them.

“Mendy was very strong and absolutely decisive. I'm not bothered that he is not nominated for the Ballon d'Or and I hope he is not bothered either.”

Frank was understandably crestfallen. “If we played that same game tomorrow we would win, 100%. We restricted Chelsea, the European champions, to five shots. Mendy was a big reason why we didn't win – he was world class.”

BRENTFORD (3-5-2): Raya 8; Zanka 7, Pinnock 7, Jansson 7; Canos 6 (Ghoddos 72), Onyeka 7 (Forss 66), Norgaard 8, Jensen 7, Henry 7; Toney 8, Mbeumo 7.

CHELSEA (3-5-2): Mendy 9; Chalobah 6, Christensen 7, Sarr 7; Azpilicueta 6, Kante 6, Loftus-Cheek 7, Kovacic 6 (Mount 65), Chilwell 8; Lukaku 5 (Havertz 77), Werner 5.

Ref: Anthony Taylor