Christian Eriksen conjures another fairytale as Bees swarm Chelsea
Brentford's Christian Eriksen scores his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Brentford, at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Saturday, April 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
HOLLYWOOD is the name adorning Brentford's shirts, but it is doubtful that LA's famous dream factory could have come up with a storyline as dramatic and fantastic as this.
Christian Eriksen, the man who literally came back from the dead nine months ago, inspired his side the Bees to come from behind and thrash their local rivals and European Champions 4-1 on their own turf, pretty much ensuring Premier League survival.
It was an incredible afternoon at Stamford Bridge, which began with Chelsea fans protesting against prospective new owners the Ricketts family before kick-off, and then leaving the stadium in droves long before the end of a painful defeat for Thomas Tuchel and his men.
Chelsea face Real Madrid back at the Bridge on Wednesday, but they will have to be much better than they were here. Apart from a 20-minute spell either side of half-time, during which they took the lead with a long shot from Antonio Rudiger, Brentford were the better side and thoroughly deserved the three points that should finally banish any lingering worries about relegation.
At the heart of it all was Eriksen, who ran the show and scored his first goal for Brentford since joining them in February. The Dane famously suffered a near-fatal cardiac arrest on the pitch during the European Championship last summer and his heart stopped beating for a short period.
But he is back and showed the world-class talent that made him the Premier League's best creative midfielder during seven years at Tottenham.
He was superb from start to finish, even scoring a breakaway goal in the 53rd minute shortly after Vitaly Janelt had equalised for the Bees. Janelt then scored again on the hour mark as Brentford turned the game on its head, and substitute Yoan Wissa drilled in a fourth goal in the closing stages to complete a remarkable turnaround.
Chelsea had chances but Kai Havertz was below his usual standards and missed the best of them. But there can be no complaints that Thomas Frank's side deserved their day in the sun, and their supporters celebrated with him and his players long and loudly after the final whistle
Mendy 6; Azpilicueta 6, Silva 6, Rudiger 6, Alonso 6 (James 55); Loftus-Cheek 6; Ziyech 6, Kante 7 (Lukaku 64), Mount 7, Werner 5 (Kovacic 64); Havertz 5
Raya 7; Ajer 7, Jansson 6, Pinnock 7; Roerslev 6, Eriksen 9, Norgaard 7, Janelt 8 (Jensen 81), Henry 7 (Canos 88); Mbeumo 7 (Wissa 84), Toney 7.
Andrew Madley 8/10
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