Stamford Bridge at Christmas Picture by Paul Lagan
By Paul Lagan at Stamford Bridge
Say it quietly, but Chelsea are in the title race.
A slim 2-1 win over Brentford at home put the Blues two points behind leaders Liverpool and four ahead of third-placed Arsenal.
The fact that Chelsea need to score three goals in a game to feel a bit confident about winning the match, will be their undoing in the long run, as it nearly proved at Stamford Bridge.
Marc Cucurella and a Nicholas Jackson screamer looked to have secured all three points, but defensive frailties saw the Bees claw their way back into the game late on. This time they hung on.
Brentford, who have a terrible away record that confounds their sensational home form stay 11th with 23 points from 16 games.
But after the final whistle, Cucurella was shown a second yellow card and was sent off by referee Peter Bankes.
Nicolas Jackson saw a glancing header zip just wide of Mark Flekken's crossbar on three minutes after an excellent cross from Malo Gusta.
Jackson was soon in the action again, on 11 minutes, latching onto a long ball. His powerful, angled left footer stung the palms of Flekken, who managed to parry the ball away at his near post.
Cole Palmer as next to test the reflexes of Flekken, and the stopper was on form to clear an edge of the area, stinger from the Chelsea star of the season.
Two minutes from the break the Blues scored.
Their dominance of possession finally bore fruit when Noni, on the right sent a cross a wonderful long, in -swinging cross which Marc Cucurella met with a diving header, from close range, which saw the ball arrow past Flekken.
There were no changes from either side at half-time.
Quite how Jackson missed a sitter on 60 minutes is anyone's guess. Six yards out with the goal gaping wide open, he somehow conspired to sky the perfect Jaydon Sancho byline cutback high into the Matthew Harding Stand behind the goal.
Thomas Frank decided that he needed to make a change, and on 63 minutes off went Mikkel Damsgaard, and he was replaced by Vitaly Janelt.
While it did not result in an equaliser, the Bees had a stronger feel about them.
Sanchez while a kick away from being a handicap, can also produce a wonder save, which he did to deny Christian Norgaard;s volley on 74 minutes.
Frank then brought on Kristoffer Ajer, Fabio Carvalho and Kevin Schade - off went Yarmoliuk, Mads Roerslev and Yoane Wissa on 76 minutes.
The visitors were desperately unlucky when Carvalho's first touch saw him crash the ball into the underside of the Chelsea crossbar and see it agonisingly drop the wrong side of the goal-line, before it was cleared.
With Brentford showing more attacking intent, it was no surprise that the Blues took full advantage when they gave the ball away. Moises Caicedo won the ball, passed to Enzo who sent Jackson free. The striker went on a straight run, before letting fly with a fine right-footer, that beat Flekken at his left hand post and the home side were 2-0 up on 82 minutes.
Enzo Maresca then decided to bring off the striker to be replaced by Christopher Nkunku a minute later.
Frank responded by bringing on Jayden Meghoma for Keane Lewis-Potter with four minutes left on the clock.
With a minute left on the clock, Brentford got a goal back Caicedo was dispossessed near the Bees penalty area and a sharp breakaway saw Bryan Mbeumo cut through the poor defensive cover and slot the ball past Sanchez.
Seven minutes of added time gave the away support more hope of a full comeback.
T**eams: Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Enzo, Noni, Palmer, Sanchez, Jackson**
**Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Disasi, Veiga, Rak-Sakyi, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Nkunku, Guiu**
**Brentford: Collins, Flekken, Damsgaard, Lewis-Potter, Mbeumo, Pinnock, Roerslev, Norgaard, Wissa, Yarmoliuk,Van den Berg**
**Subs: Carvalho, Janelt, Konak, Mee, Meghoma, Schade, Trevitt, Valdimarsson, Ajar**