Enzo Maresca might not want to hear it, but it’s increasingly clear that Chelsea are very much in the Premier League title race. At least until they aren’t, anyway.
The weekend had gone near flawlessly for Chelsea before their Sunday evening kick-off, with Liverpool and Arsenal both held to draws at home before Manchester City self-destructed in the closing minutes of the Manchester derby at the Etihad.
Second-placed Chelsea did enough to capitalise and ease clear of their pursuers while moving within two points of the leaders thanks to goals near the end of each half from Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson. Bryan Mbeumo’s late goal gave Chelsea a nervy finish, with Cucurella sent off at the very end after receiving a second yellow card for ‘adopting an aggressive attitude’, but they got over the line and are now very much the form team in the division with this a fifth straight win in a division currently pockmarked by inconsistency and unreliability everywhere you look.
For Brentford it maintains the bizarre disparity between their form at home and away. This was their seventh defeat in eight games on the road in the Premier League this season, with a point from a goalless draw at Everton all they have to show for their travelling efforts.
It’s been a different story at home where Brentford have seven wins and a draw from their eight games with the goals flowing at both ends.
Put that all together and it leaves them, unsurprisingly, right in mid-table in 11th spot with 23 points, behind Tottenham on goal difference after Spurs thrashed sorry Southampton in another evening encounter.