Key events
Jonathan Wilson was at the Gtech Community Stadium tonight. Here’s his verdict! Thanks for reading this MBM.
Xabi Alonso speaks to Sky. “Disappointed … disappointed at the end with the second half, with the result … this is not enough to compete in the Premier League … not to be able to hold for the 90 minutes … that’s why today we were punished … we are not consistent enough to compete during the whole game … 45 is not enough … each detail is important … each action can be decisive … we lost a little bit of control … it’s about mentality … tactical themes … we can do much better … we need to assess, analyse and improve for the future … it is not about looking for excuses.”
A very downcast Levi Colwill talks to Sky Sports. “It was tough … conceding a set piece wasn’t the best … we tried to push and over-exposed ourselves … played some passes we shouldn’t have and forced it … they hit us on the counter which they’re so good at … the third goal hit home and hurt … we’ve got a lot to work on during the international break … at times we’ve been bullied in the box … we trust in our set-piece coach … I don’t think our spirits dropped in any way … we can’t rely on our front three to put us out of danger … the defence and midfield … we have definitely got a lot of room to improve.”
Keith Andrews speaks to Sky Sports. “There’s a lot made about us and set pieces … you can see the different way we scored goals tonight … [Chelsea] were very respectful in the way they set up against us … we had to earn the right to play … very disciplined … we did that brilliantly … [Fabio Carvalho] is such a special soul … I’m so happy for him … he’s worked so hard to come back [from an ACL injury] … it’s important you enjoy these nights … there’s no point in hiding it … I have this unbelievable calm around our team, because I trust them … we try to push boundaries … continue on our journey … [third place] is a lovely place to be … it’s a nice place to be when going home to see my mum and dad tomorrow!”
Here’s what Brentford’s victory has done to the Premier League table. The Bees are in third, until tomorrow at least, while Chelsea remain in seventh, and that goal difference serves as a conspicuous red flag. Keith Andrews continues to weave his magic; Xabi Alonso has plenty to think about.
Brentford were magnificent in that second half. Chelsea mustered a few minutes of pressure after conceding Jaidon Anthony’s first goal for his new club, but when Igor Thiago finished off a quick break – the result of Kristoffer Ajer picking off a loose pass from Jordan Henderson, of all people – it was all over. Fábio Carvalho provided the final flourish, and the Bees fly into third spot, for the next 19 hours at least. Chelsea meanwhile have now conceded 12 goals in five Premier League matches, the most in the division, and that’s two losses and a draw in their last three. Chelsea and Xabi Alonso aren’t quite in crisis territory yet, they’re crisis adjacent and with the international break looming, have three weeks to wait until they can change the mood music.
The Gtech Community Stadium en fête. Hey Jude blasting over the PA, the na-na-na coda sparking its most joyous party since the Beatles appeared on the David Frost show back in the day. Keith Andrews conducting all four stands. Then a beautiful moment as Thiago gifts his shirt to a young lad in the crowd; the wee chap looks on the verge of spilling the happiest tears, like it means the whole world, as he points to the heavens. Whatever the context there, it’s such a sweet scene. Let it out and let it in!
FULL TIME: Brentford 3-0 Chelsea
Brentford beat Chelsea at home for the first time since 1938! The goals took a while to come, but it was a rout in the end.
90 min +5: On the touchline, Keith Andrews cocks his head back and screams with delight into the night sky. Xabi Alonso with the thousand-yard stare.
GOAL! Brentford 3-0 Chelsea (Carvalho 90+4)
Schade throws long from the left. Chelsea half-clear, but the ball’s recycled to Schade, who is inexplicably left in acres on his flank. Schade curls low into the middle. Colwill gets a nick, but only manages to deflect the ball towards Carvalho at the far post. From a couple of yards, the sub roofs it. He’s developing a habit of scoring late goals against Chelsea!
90 min +3: Chelsea take an age over the free kick … it’s not as though they’ve got time to waste … and eventually it’s Palmer who comes over to swing it in. Lacroix heads miles over the bar. The crowd cheer. The home fans know that should almost certainly be that.
90 min +2: Rogers is clipped by Schuster just outside the left-hand edge of the Brentford box. Rogers and Henderson stand over the dead ball. A goal here would set up a frantic finish …
90 min: There will be five additional minutes.
89 min: If they get the win, xG suggests they’ll deserve it: it’s 2.22 for Brentford to Chelsea’s 0.68.
88 min: Thiago’s hustle down the left wins Brentford a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but Brentford are another minute closer to their first home victory over Chelsea since 1938.
87 min: Chelsea make two more changes. Barco and Neto make way for Estevao and the 16-year-old Nicoll-Jazuli, who becomes Chelsea’s youngest player in the Premier League era. Meanwhile Carvalho replaces Damsgaard for Brentford.
85 min: Thiago, who had been so desperate to break his Premier League duck this season, takes his shirt off in celebration. Booking. Seconds after the restart, Sangare follows him into the referee’s book with a late clip on Barco from behind.
GOAL! Brentford 2-0 Chelsea (Thiago 83)
Chelsea throw a lot of men forward. But Henderson’s loose pass is intercepted by Ajer, and suddenly Brentford are on a dangerous counter. Schade is sent clear down the inside-left channel. He tries a sidefoot towards the bottom right. Martinez gets a strong hand to the shot, but the ball rears up for Thiago, who sidefoots into the right-hand side of the net for his first league goal of the season!
81 min: Another Brentford double change. Anthony and Lewis-Potter are replaced by Diouf and Ouattara.
80 min: Another Chelsea corner, worked back up the right flank. Neto swings it in. Kelleher punches spectacularly clear. Quenda comes again, down the left, and wins yet another corner. The pressure is relentless, all of a sudden. It’s worked back to Quenda, whose shot from distance is blocked.
78 min: … but Chelsea are pushing Brentford back, their first bout of sustained pressure all evening. Palmer twists and turns inside the box but there’s no space for a shot. The ball breaks out for a corner, from which nothing comes.
77 min: Sangare and Barco compete for a loose ball in the Brentford box. Neither get it under control. Barco takes a bit of a whack and wants a free kick, but neither referee nor VAR shows any interest in awarding one.
75 min: Damsgaard and Thiago butcher a two-on-two break. A huge chance to double Brentford’s lead is spurned, Damsgaard with a poor pass, Thiago compounding the error with a miscontrol.
74 min: Lewis-Potter goes barreling down the inside-left channel. Just as things are about to open up for him, he’s stopped in full flight by Barco’s crunching challenge. Great play all round. “I don’t know why Henderson was chewing the ear off Martinez for that corner-kick failure,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “The Chelsea defender was nowhere to be seen either as that ball came over. Perhaps he was off measuring the height of the advertising hoarding at the Gtech.”
72 min: Chelsea respond with one of their own – one double change, that is – by replacing Welbeck and Fofana with Quenda and Acheampong.
70 min: Brentford make a double change, replacing Kayode and Yarmoliuk with Hickey and Sangare.
68 min: … Schuster flicks on accidentally, nearly setting up Colwill, who can’t force home from amid a six-yard-box melee. Then Brentford counter, but Thiago isn’t able to make enough space to shoot from the edge of the box. This game has suddenly blossomed.
67 min: Rogers nearly bursts past Kayode along the byline to the left of goal, but makes do with a corner. One corner leads to another, and …
66 min: Neto dribbles in from the right and makes himself space to shoot … but takes a split second too long to hit the button, and his shot’s blocked and cleared.
65 min: Xabi Alonso cuts a pensive figure on the touchline. Still no Premier League clean sheet for Chelsea under his yoke. “Just as the bookies were about to pay out on 0-0,” quips Richard Hirst.
64 min: Chelsea are suddenly all over the shop, and Ajer is allowed to dribble halfway the length of the pitch, reaching the edge of the box before laying off to Thiago, who can’t get a shot away. The ball breaks left to Lewis-Potter, who floats a cross into the arms of Martinez. The Gtech bouncing.
62 min: That was some delivery by Damsgaard, Martinez unable to get anywhere near it, and a well-worked set piece overall. Keith Andrews 1, Austin MacPhee 0.
GOAL! Brentford 1-0 Chelsea (Anthony 61)
Damsgaard curls the corner long from the left. Schuster rises at the far stick, and sends a header across the face of goal. Anthony can’t miss for a couple of yards. It was as simple as that!
60 min: The game goes end to end. Chavarria laces a shot over the bar from a tight angle on the left – Palmer in the middle isn’t best impressed – then Schade goes up the other end and wins a corner. From which …
59 min: Another long ball from Brentford, which Damsgaard cushions into the path of Thiago, who sails a long-range shot over the bar. The 1980s Wimbledon side made this sort of carry-on look much easier than it actually is.
58 min: Kelleher goes long for Thiago, who nearly gets on the end of the pass. But Lacroix and Fofana combine well to usher the ball back to Martinez.
56 min: Ajer and Lewis-Potter combine down the left, hoping to send Thiago clear further up the wing. But Thiago can’t control Lewis-Potter’s final flick, and there’s another goal kick.
54 min: Damsgaard tries to find Thiago in the middle with an outside-of-boot cross from the left. Clever idea, badly executed. Goal kick.
53 min: You say that, but Chelsea’s xG has soared from 0.39 to a whopping 0.4. It’s all happening!
52 min: Rogers has a shot deflected out for a corner. Henderson hoicks it in from the right, but that’s easily cleared. Both teams showing a bit more purpose, if not quite verve, in attack since the restart. “Given Chelsea’s hereto woeful defence, I scrapped Lacroix and Martinez from my fantasy league team and brought Thiago off the bench,” admits John Parry. “This game is my fault.”
51 min: Yarmoliuk whips a cross in from the right. Anthony heads goalwards. Martinez tips over acrobatically. The ball perhaps shaves the top of the bar. But the flag goes up … and again, had that gone in, VAR might have got the old rulers out. Anthony looked onside to the naked eye.
49 min: Palmer plays a cute reverse pass down the middle for Welbeck, who momentarily strides clear of the Brentford back line, but is soon caught up by Schuster, and then the flag goes up for offside anyway. Had Welbeck gone through and scored, VAR might have had something to say about that flag. It was tight.
48 min: Chavarria crosses from the left. The ball’s headed behind by Schuster. Chelsea try another MacPhee Special, working the corner back to Chavarria, but his outswinger sails harmlessly out for a goal kick. In the dugout, the aforementioned set-piece coach fumes silently. He is beyond livid with Chelsea’s set-piece travails.
46 min: Kayode throws long from the left. As the ball comes over, Martinez hugs Thiago, then falls backwards. He’s taking a big chance on the referee blowing his whistle … which he does. But there really wasn’t much in that. Argentina 1, Brazil 0.
Brentford get the second half started. No changes. The xG at the break? 0.39 apiece.
Half-time postbag. “So far this has been a game where some exciting things almost, but not quite, happen. Many times I’ve thought, oh, that could’ve been good, but at no point has my heart beaten at anything other than a resting rate” – Kári Tulinius
“I think Caoimhin Kelleher let that one roll under his foot just for divilment, as they’d say in his native Cork. For kicks, for entertainment. To stop people drifting off next door to the cemetery at half-time” – Justin Kavanagh
“Stinker” – Dave Estherby
“Surely I’m not the only one who’s been wondering which early 20th-century revolutionary Keith Andrews resembles? (It’s the hair.) It came to me just now as the camera cut to him in his not un-revolutionary-styled jacket: Grigori Zinoviev, leading early Bolshevik, eventually purged by Stalin (though that description could describe several individuals). I’d like to know how many committees Andrews has set up at the Gtech” – Rob Knap
HALF TIME: Brentford 0-0 Chelsea
We were promised goals!
45 min +1: Nothing happens in that additional minute.
45 min: Lewis-Potter dribbles purposefully down the left and nearly breaks into the Chelsea box. But that man Fofana continues to work his patch, and closes the door just in time. There will be one additional first-half minute.
44 min: Welbeck chases after a ball down the left. Ajer gives him a little tug on the shoulder from behind, and it’s surely a free kick and a booking, but the referee waves play on. Welbeck can’t believe it.
42 min: Kelleher claims Henderson’s corner without fuss. The MacPhee Effect yet to kick in with Chelsea. Brentford counter quickly, and Lewis-Potter tries to steer a shot into the top right from his position on the left. Easy for Martinez.
41 min: Chavarria turns on the jets to make off down the left. He cuts back for Rogers, in space just inside the box. Rogers hooks a fierce shot towards the right-hand side of the goal. Kelleher is going the correct way, but the ball pings off Schuster and out to the left of goal for a corner instead.
39 min: Lewis-Potter bustles his way in from the left and lays off to Damsgaard. He’s hoping for the return down the inside-left channel, but instead of being released into the box, watches in irritation as Damsgaard lashes a wild shot over the bar. To be fair to Damsgaard, he was getting the Big Enthuse from the crowd.
37 min: A bit of space for Yarmoliuk, just to the right of the Chelsea D. He gets Brentford’s first effort on target, but it’s a scuff towards the bottom left, and an easy job for Martinez to gather.
36 min: Chavarria loops long down the left. Rogers, his back to goal, 50 yards out, splits the Brentford defence with an outrageous backheel down the channel, releasing Welbeck … but the flag goes up correctly for offside. A shame for aesthetes everywhere, because that could have been one of the all-time assists.
34 min: … but we’ve oversold that.