Mendy makes great points
CHELSEA stayed top of the Premier League with victory over neighbours Brentford thanks to a Ben Chilwell strike – but only after a string of last-gasp saves by goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Chilwell scored for the second game in a row in the 45th minute when Brentford failed to clear and the ball dropped kindly for the England defender to strike from 12 yards with a half volley.
The hosts had earlier hit the post through Bryan Mbeumo and the Frenchman was again denied by the woodwork in the 75th minute.
Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy then denied Saman Ghoddos, and Trevoh Chalobah then saved the visitors by clearing off his line from Christian Norgaard.
Scorer Chilwell said: “We’ve got Edou to thank for the last 20 minutes, some goalkeeper.
“We see it every day in training and he’s getting the credit he deserves, he makes big saves and gets us the three points in the end.
“It was very tough. The last 20 minutes we showed the mentality we need to be showing all season.
“It was going to be tough, they’ve had a good start to the season, the fans have been brilliant for them. Especially the last 20 minutes, half an hour, the fans were really behind them.
“I was happy to get on the scoresheet. Proved to be the only goal of the game in the end so I’m happy with that but defensively it was tough today but we showed our steel and how strong we are defensively.
“We spoke a lot before the game about coming out the first game back after the international break is important to get back into the swing of things, to try and get three points and move on to the coming games.”