Chelsea suffered three winless Premier League matches and conceded 12 goals in five games following an emphatic 3-0 defeat against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, where Jaidon Anthony, Igor Thiago, and Fábio Carvalho struck in the second half.
The west London derby showcased a sharp contrast between a disciplined, coherent home side and a visiting squad still grappling with massive turnover and tactical adjustment.
Brentford’s Second-Half Surge Secures Historic Win
At the final whistle, Keith Andrews tipped his head back and roared at the sky, celebrating Brentford’s first home win over Chelsea since 1938. They remain unbeaten, coherent and disciplined, and moved up to third in the table. It was a performance I felt was bubbling,
said Andrews. I could see it in the players’ eyes over the last two days. They were very focused, very determined.
After a scoreless first half that featured a ninth-minute save by Caoimhin Kelleher denying Pedro Neto’s well-struck effort, and a blocked effort from Morgan Rogers just before half-time when his good shooting chance was blocked by Schuster, the match opened up dramatically after the interval. Early in the second half, at 50 minutes, Anthony struck the top of the bar with a header from inside the box, though the offside flag went up before replays showed he was level.
The deadlock broke at 61 minutes when Mikkel Damsgaard’s corner was nodded across by Jannik Schuster, leaving Jaidon Anthony to nod home unmarked from a few yards out. Chelsea’s defensive and set-piece woes continued under Xabi Alonso as Brentford claimed an emphatic 3-0 victory in the west London derby.
Brentford doubled their lead in the 82nd minute when Kevin Schade broke through for a one-on-one. His effort was saved by Emiliano Martinez, but Igor Thiago struck home from close range to tap in the rebound, sealing the points and ending his seven-game goal drought. With virtually the last kick of the game at 90+4 minutes, Fabio Carvalho scored his first Premier League goal since his near-year-long injury lay-off after tucking home Schade’s wicked ball across at the far post while unmarked.
Alonso’s Side Struggles with Set-Pieces and Absent Personnel
Chelsea’s defensive and set-piece woes continued under Xabi Alonso as Brentford claimed an emphatic 3-0 victory in the west London derby. Chelsea have now conceded 12 goals – the most in the league – from five Premier League games as the wait for their first top-flight clean sheet of the season goes on.
Unimpressive in defence, but in attack, Chelsea weren’t much better – clearly missing the injured Joao Pedro, with replacement Danny Welbeck failing to generate any clear chances in his place. His 72nd minute withdrawal for Geovany Quenda said a lot. Moises Caicedo was another big miss, with his replacement being Jordan Henderson, who made an unsuccessful first start for the Blues at the club he joined them from. Jordan Henderson made his full Chelsea debut at his former club, while Danny Welbeck, Pep Chavarria and Valentin Barco made their first league starts.
Cole Palmer looked bright in sparks, with much of their attacking play going through him, but the Blues never really generated anything apart from Pedro Neto’s ninth-minute effort kept out by Caoimhin Kelleher. Palmer was unable to produce the decisive moment he craved, with a free-kick comfortably saved and few other clear opportunities, though he also worked hard defensively.
Boardroom Changes and Squad Turnover
Such is the state of perpetual flux at Chelsea that the usual homilies about the benefits of stability always seem a little redundant when applied to them. With 11 new signings this summer maintaining the sense of the club as a trading hub, learning the names of everybody in the dressing room has probably been a greater priority than worrying too much about boardroom wrangling. But, still, their first game since Todd Boehly and Mark Walter agreed to sell their 12.8% stake in the club to the major shareholder Clearlake Capital felt significant. At the very least, a more harmonious boardroom should be beneficial.
Boehly, the great disruptor, who arrived blithely telling English football it was doing everything wrong, has departed having achieved very little other than splurging £300m on players who didn’t fit and giving Raheem Sterling a £325,000-a-week contract in his shambolic spell as de facto sporting director. Four years on, after 60 arrivals, do Chelsea look any more like title challengers than they did then? It was, in truth, very hard to say what this looked like, other than a team that is every much still under construction.
As Brentford – who have become the first team to stop Chelsea scoring this season – continue their unbeaten start to the season to go up to third, that’s the number of three Premier League games without a win for Alonso’s Chelsea.
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