London, Oct 16
Brilliant goalkeeping by man-of-the-match Edouard Mendy ensured Chelsea’s narrow 1-0 win over Brentford and kept them at the top of the Premier League table.
Despite their late incessant attack, Brentford were unable to find a way past the superb Chelsea keeper who was voted the best keeper in the last Champions League.
Brentford manager, Thomas Frank said: “First, I’m very proud of our performance for the 90 minutes. There can only be one deserved winner and that should be us, from the chances we created. We kept the European champions to five shots, that’s very impressive. The last 20 to 25 minutes, we truly dominated them.”
He added: “In the end we were all over them and that’s very impressive. I’m really proud of the performance. It was crazy when you look at the stats after the game in terms of the chances we had. Nine out of 10 times we would have won. Mendy was absolutely world class. He has been crazily good for Chelsea. I said to him that he had been a little bit annoying. I praised him.”
Chelsea were without several players who were rested or injured after the international break but with the depth in the squad they are always able to field a strong reshuffled side.
Brentford missed a chance of taking the lead in the 21st minute when a shot by Bryan Mbeumo hit a post after a fine cross from the right by Sergi Canos. Chelsea too could have scored in the 37th minute but Timo Werner shot over the bar from a cross Ben Chilwell. `
Chelsea certainly had the better of the first half with the goal coming in the last minute before halftime when Chilwell smashed a left-footed volley with precision and technique into the net. It was his third goal in the last three matches for club and country.
Brentford were strong after the break and pressed hard into the visitor’s half. Chelsea had a goal from Romelu Lukaku disallowed for offside in the 70th minute and eight minutes later Brentford missed a chance when Mbeumo once again was unlucky to see his shot hit the bottom of a post.
Chelsea substituted Lukaku with Kai Havertz in the 76th minute but as the game approached the closing stages, Mendy made important saves under intense pressure, including a shot, in the 83rd minute, from close range with the follow-up effort being cleared off the goalline by Trevor Chalobah.
But the most magnificent save came in added time. An acrobatic overhead kick by Norgaard, heading for the equaliser, was superbly tipped over the bar by Mendy who also took a shot bravely in the face to block another attempt at goal and needed treatment for his effort. Norgaard said: “I found myself in the box a few times and the overhead kick would have been the icing on the cake, but it was a great save by the keeper.”
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