Brentford 0-0 Chelsea: Player ratings as Blues held by Bees
From Gtech Community Stadium – Chelsea’s five-match winning run came to an end with a 0-0 draw at Brentford.
Graham Potter remains unbeaten as Blues boss but his side were kept at bay and given real problems in an enthralling-yet-goalless west London derby.
Brentford spurned a second-minute chance to take the lead when Rico Henry skipped away from Jorginho and teed up Ivan Toney, who rounded Kepa Arrizabalaga but was unable to get a shot off, with Marc Cucurella eventually clearing.
The Bees maintained their early pressure as Toney this time forced Kepa into a save, heading Mads Roerslev’s cross towards goal only for the Spaniard to tip it over.
The hosts wanted a penalty when Bryan Mbeumo fell in the area under a challenge from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, only for their appeals to be waved away.
Brentford again came close to breaking the deadlock when David Raya’s free-kick was nodded backwards by Loftus-Cheek, with Toney racing in behind to get his head on it again, only to be thwarted by a save from Kepa once more.
Chelsea at last tested Raya after 36 minutes when Cesar Azpilicueta let fly from 25 yards, but his Spain colleague was able to get down and claw the shot away with relative ease.
The Blues went closer when Armando Broja beat Ben Mee to a through ball in behind the Bees defence, though was slowed down by the defender enough for his teammates to come racing back, and the Albanian’s low cross-cum-shot whistled through the six-yard box and past the post.
Toney opted to try and dribble his way towards goal when a deflected cutback from Henry fell to him on the edge of the box when it seemed for all the world as if he should have hit it and the two sides went into the break goalless.
Kepa again came to Chelsea’s rescue on the other side of the interval when he kept out a free header from Bryan Mbeumo, who ought to have done more with his gilt-edged chance.
Kai Havertz brought Raya into an instinctive save with a quick snap-shot before Mbeumo tried to lob Kepa from the halfway line, only for the Chelsea number one to calmly chest his effort back into play.
With under ten minutes remaining, the Blues’ frustrations were underpinned by Mateo Kovacic’s sighter sailing over, while Kepa again stood tall to keep Toney at bay.
Substitute Raheem Sterling came faced with a clear sight of goal late on but had the ball hooked away from him by the long legs of Ethan Pinnock, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 20-yard shot trickled into Raya’s grateful arms.
Another effort from distance, this time from Christian Pulisic, was beaten away by Raya before the American’s cross was grasped by the Spain international.
Carney Chukwuemeka had one last attempt saved by Raya before the final whistle and the points were shared.
Brentford vs Chelsea player ratings
1. Brentford (3-5-2)
GK: David Raya – 7/10 – Little to do in terms of saves until late on, while his distribution was handy.
CB: Zanka – 5/10 – Made some simple errors in and out of possession early on. Looked a level below his teammates, which is understandable considering he was signed as a backup.
CB: Ben Mee – 7/10 – Largely imperious, even making up for his lack of pace with an incredible first-half sliding tackle on Broja.
CB: Ethan Pinnock – 8/10 – His nightmare at Newcastle seems a long time ago. Solid and defended with ease.
RWB: Mads Roerslev – 6/10 – Ended a few attacks with wayward decisions but kept Cucurella under wraps.
CM: Frank Onyeka – 7/10 – Another excellent box-to-box display from a man maligned for so long. Notably gave Koulibaly a scare in the first half with his powerful dribbling.
CM: Vitaly Janelt – 6/10 – Played deeper today than he did when he scored twice at Stamford Bridge in April. Generally coped with Jorginho’s technical ability well.
CM: Mathias Jensen – 5/10 – Caught napping in possession on occasion and his delivery wasn’t as great as it has been recently.
LWB: Rico Henry – 6/10 – Made Loftus-Cheek’s life tough at both ends and did his own job in both boxes.
CF: Bryan Mbeumo – 5/10 – Impressed in patches but couldn’t get on the ball long enough to make a real impact. Should have done better with his second-half header.
CF: Ivan Toney – 6/10 – Unlucky not to have scored in the first half and did the most up top without scoring.
SUB: Shandon Baptiste (60′ for Onyeka) – 5/10
SUB: Yoane Wissa (72′ for Mbeumo) – 6/10
SUB: Josh Dasilva (72′ for Jensen) – 5/10
SUB: Saman Ghoddos (90′ for Janelt) – N/A
Manager: Thomas Frank – 7/10 – Brentford nullified Chelsea and created good openings which took advantage of their weaknesses.
2. Chelsea (3-5-2)
GK: Kepa Arrizabalaga – 9/10 – Plenty more saves to add to his highlight reel this season.
CB: Cesar Azpilicueta – 7/10 – Excelled in physical battles he had no right in winning. Made some smart tackles and interceptions.
CB: Trevoh Chalobah – 7/10 – Had to deal with a lot of crosses and long balls but held his own well.
CB: Kalidou Koulibaly – 6/10 – Wasn’t necessarily bad but he struggled more than Chelsea’s other centre-backs.
RWB – Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 5/10 – Boy, Chelsea really miss Reece James. Loftus-Cheek was average in his own half and wasteful in Brentford’s.
CM: Conor Gallagher – N/A – Substituted with a knee injury early on.
CM: Jorginho – 5/10 – Moved the ball quickly but was physically tested by Brentford.
CM: Mason Mount – 5/10 – Failed to really get into the game and was hooked just after an hour.
LWB: Marc Cucurella – 5/10 – Seriously lacked dynamism and was often pinned back.
CF: Kai Havertz – 4/10 – Looked silky when dropping deep but didn’t provide anywhere near enough of a threat in the final third.
CF: Armando Broja – 6/10 – Made a nuisance of himself but was starved of service.
SUB: Mateo Kovacic (15′ for Gallagher) – 6/10 – Probably the best of Chelsea’s midfielders but the bar wasn’t particularly high.
SUB: Christian Pulisic (62′ for Cucurella) – 4/10
SUB: Carney Chukwuemeka (62′ for Mount) – 5/10
SUB: Raheem Sterling (62′ for Broja) – 5/10
SUB: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (81′ for Havertz) – N/A
Manager: Graham Potter – 4/10 – Chelsea looked clueless in possession and relied on Kepa to continually bail them out.
