Chelsea 2 Brentford 1: Cucurella and Jackson fire Blues into Premier League title race as they close gap on Liverpool
FOR the second successive Premier League game, Chelsea got away with a slip-up, with Marc Cucurella once again the centre of attention.
Seven days earlier, Cucurella fell on his backside twice to hand Spurs a two-goal lead and here, he scored his first top-flight goal for the Blues and got a second yellow card.
Enzo Maresca’s team have now moved within two points of Liverpool even though they have played a game more.
And while it was not entirely convincing from Chelsea, with Bryan Mbuemo pulled one back in the 90th minute for Brentford after Nicolas Jackson made it 2-0, it was still a decent win for the Blues.
For the first time at Stamford Bridge under Maresca, the home fans sang “we’ve got our Chelsea back” although Mbuemo stuck the ball past Sanchez to set up a nervous seven minutes of stoppage time.
Yet on a weekend when Liverpool and Arsenal drew while Manchester City lost – again – Chelsea made it seven wins in a row in all competitions which proves that Maresca is squeezing some consistency out of his team at a key time.
Moises Caicedo, although lucky not to be sent off at Spurs, once again dominated the midfield while Jadon Sancho – with all his tricks, flicks and drag-backs, showed you that he is once again enjoying his football again.
Nicolas Jackson delivered Chelsea’s miss of the season yet overcame that embarrassment by firing his ninth goal of the season.
Yet on this occasion this was all about Cucurella, both good and bad.
After his goal, there was plenty of hair ruffling – and Cucurella has quite a lot of it – with the Chelsea defender celebrating with a sort of weird Penguin-like shuffle which maybe had some to do with failing to stay on his feet at Spurs.
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Maresca will also have been pleased because since arriving at the club, he has spent lots of time at the club’s Cobham training ground urging his full-backs to get forward for crosses.
Yet near the end of the game, Cucurella showed some poor sportsmanship by successfully getting Vitaly Janelt booked.
On the final whistle, Brentford’s Kebin Schade confronted Cucurella who ended up getting a second yellow card.
For Brentford, this was another disappointing result away from home.
They have picked up 22 points at home – more than any other team in the Premier league but on their travels, they have managed just two points. Only Southampton have a worse record.
There was a lot of head-scratching as to why this game was played at 7pm but it was put back due to the club travelling to Kazakhstan in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night.
Defender Tosin Adarabioyo, though, was the only player who featured in the starting XI having also played the full 90 minutes in the 3-1 win away to Astana.
And now this Thursday, Chelsea are at home to Shamrock Rovers even though it is effectively a dead rubber.
Nicolas Jackson glanced a header wide but when Chelsea did get their other efforts on target, they could not find a way past Brentford keeper Mark Flekken.
He blocked a shot from Jackson and then made saves to deny Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Noni Madueke.
Yet a couple of minutes before the break, the most unlikely of players put Chelsea ahead.
Madueke’s deep cross from the right was terrific but there was still a hell of a lot of work for Cucurella to do.
But he timed his run well, got ahead of right-back Mads Roerslev and angled his header from seven yards into the bottom corner.
It was certainly a good finish but also poor defending from right-back Roerslev.
Chelsea continued to pile pressure on a Brentford team who were getting a bit too physical at corners and were lucky not to concede at least two penalties due to the amount of grappling going on.
Jackson, despite being in good form, then delivered one of the misses of the season with an utterly abysmal left-footed effort from a few yards out.
You started to wonder whether Chelsea would regret that miss particularly as Thomas Frank’s team had offered little up front.
Chelsea ratings vs Brentford as Caicedo runs the show in midfield but goalscorer Cucurella lets himself down
CHELSEA closed the gap at the top of the league with a 2-1 West London derby win over Brentford.
Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson netted for the Blues as they went two points behind Liverpool.
Here is how SunSport’s Andy Dillon rated the Chelsea performances…
Robert Sanchez – 7
Capable of making huge mistakes but also of great saves and made several tonight. One of his better night’s work.
Malo Gusto – 7
A class act and is strong physically and mentally for this team. Chelsea do not even miss captain Reece James at the moment.
Levi Colwill – 7
Made a crucial block to deny Damsgaard in the style of Chelsea legend John Terry. A solid performance.
Tosin Adaribioyo – 6
Cracking strength to play having also played in minus 11 centigrade out in Kazakhstan on Thursday. Injuries to defenders Badiashile and Fofana put pressure on him and he did his best.
Marc Cucurella – 4
Great run and header for the first goal but then totally spoiled himself with awful gamesmanship.
And then reckless to get two yellow cards in the space of a few minutes to be sent off.
Moises Caicedo – 8
So neat and tidy with his tackles and command of midfield. Chelsea dominated possession and in physical terms – largely due to this bloke.
Enzo Fernandez – 7
Looks settled and provided several neat through passes to link midfield and attack. Composed too.
Noni Madueke – 6
Great left foot cross to set up Cucurella’s goal. Dynamic on the run – but did get caught off guard a couple of times.
Cole Palmer – 6
A powerful shot saved in the first half but otherwise a quiet night for the star of this team.
Jadon Sancho – 6
Slowly regaining his position in the first-team after falling out of favour.
Nifty footwork in the second half almost brought the goal that would have settled this game much earlier.
Nicolas Jackson – 7
Tasty finish for what was ultimately the winner but also messed up a chance in the first half.
A decisive strike though that keeps Chelsea on the winning beat.
Subs:
Christoper Nkunku (for Jackson 83 mins) – 5
Did not get much time to make an impact. Chelsea were on the back foot for the run in.
And then came a golden chance when Bees skipper Christian Norgaard was somehow left completely unmarked yet his volley was brilliantly tipped over by Robert Sanchez.
Brentford keeper Flekken delivered a save equally as good although his fingertip stop to keep out a decent strike by Jackson still ended up as a goal-kick.
Chelsea suffered an even bigger let-off when sub Fabio Carvalho hammered a close range shot against the bar.
And inevitably, Brentford were left to curse their luck Caicedo won the ball, Fernandez delivered the killer ball and Jackson made the most of some hesitation by defender Ethan Pinnock before slamming the ball past Flekken at the near post.
On the stroke of 90 minutes, Mbuemo skipped past Tosin before sticking a shot past the exposed Sanchez and on the final whistle, Cucurella lost the plot.