Chelsea managed to win 1-0 over Brentford in the Premier League match at the Brentford Community Stadium, Saturday (16/10).
Thomas Tuchel made several changes in the starting XI. One of them by playing Loftus-Cheek since the early minutes. Even so, Chelsea’s midfield still showed good performance.
Chances were obtained by Chelsea in the 16th and 17th minutes, but Kante and Lukaku’s actions were still not turn into a goal.
Brentford had a golden opportunity in the 22nd minute, but Mbeumo’s action was saved by the post. Meanwhile, Chelsea failed to get a goal some time later when Lukaku’s action was disallowed by the referee for being in an offside position.
Timo Werner had a good chance in the 37th minute. Getting feedback from Lukaku, Werner has quite an open space. However, his shot bounced.
Chelsea finally scored at the end of the first half. Chilwell snatched an imperfect clearance from Pontus Jansson. Chilwell’s kick went hard and nestled in David Raya’s goal.
Chelsea closed the first half with a 1-0 advantage.
Chelsea remained solid at the start of the second half. Meanwhile, Brenford are clearly showing an effort that they want to get points. The game was fairly even for both teams at the start of the match.
Tuchel played Mason Mount in the 65th minute, replacing Kovacic. Tuchel seemed to want to play more aggressively.
The 70th minute, Werner again had a chance. This time it can be blocked by Brenford’s defender. Meanwhile, Lukaku’s attempt to snatch the vomit ball still soared. Lukaku is also in an offside position.
Bryan Mbeumo, no luck! For the second time, Mbeumo’s chance was denied by the goal.
The last 10 minutes of the match, Chelsea’s defense got a tough test. Mendy made two crucial saves. Then, Chalobah also made a brilliant sweep in the 83rd minute when Mendy was not in the best position.
After the game, Tuchel admitted Brentford was a very difficult opponent to face. According to him, The Bees have high fighting power and always threaten through dead balls.
“They (Brentford) are always dangerous at set pieces, they put a lot of free-kicks, corners, free-kicks into your box, so it’s a constant threat,” Tuchel said after the game.
“They were very strong and very concentrated also in our build-up game, a very good game.”
“Of course, the last 20 minutes the game turned into a tight game, they took a lot of risks and put a lot of players into our (penalty) box and we couldn’t keep them away from shots and had big chances so that was really decisive.” .
Questioning the last 20 minutes of the second half, the German tactician admitted that the solid defense of the Blues could not be separated from the important role of his goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy. As is known, Mendy made several important saves before the match ended.
“He (Mendy) was very strong throughout the game. We managed to keep a lot of pressure off him for the first 60-65 minutes but they (Brentford) are still there (to attack).”
