Chelsea took advantage of their rivals’ slip-ups to fall two points adrift at the top of the Premier League, but narrowly beat Brentford 2-1.
The Blues didn’t make the same mistake as Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City, who were all at home at the weekend, but worked hard to see off Brentford, who have picked up just one away point all season.
They took a deserved lead at the break when Mark Cucurella nodded his first Premier League goal minutes before the break for the Blues, who dominated the opening half without creating any clear-cut chances.
Nicholas Jackson should have put the game to bed on the hour mark when he headed home an impressive Jadon Sancho cross from six yards, and without it the Blues’ narrow lead was always going to be in doubt.
Brentford came so close to making them pay when the momentum began to shift and Christian Norgaard made a fine fingertip stop from Robert Sanchez before Fabio Carvalho’s sliding effort bounced off the bar, inches from crossing the line.
Enzo Maresca’s celebrations to greet Jackson’s thunderous second after a quick counter-attack summed up the calm around Stamford Bridge for the rest of the 10 minutes as Chelsea finally gave themselves a cushion to defend.
But even then, a hospital pass from Cukurela to Moises Caicedo saw a Brentford counter-attack finished in style by Brian Mbemo, leaving the Blues to see out seven minutes of added time before they could finally celebrate stealing the title from their rivals;
More to follow…
