HOW THEY RATED
Christian inspires the Bees as Tuchel left in total shock
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN inspired Brentford to a stunning win at neighbours Chelsea.
The Dane scored his first goal for the club in what boss Thomas Frank described as a fairytale, given his devastating brush with death at last summer’s Euros.
It was also Brentford’s first league win here in 83 years – achieved after falling behind to what could well be the goal of the season from Antonio Rudiger.
No wonder Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel struggled to explain what had unravelled during a second-half goal-fest
The bemused German (right), whose side host Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday, said: “We worked so hard to get the lead – with a beautiful goal – and then concede three in 10 minutes.
“That’s very untypical. I don’t know why we weren’t aware of the danger. It’s not normal. It is a summary of strange events.”
If the takeover of Chelsea is proving increasingly chaotic as the bidding process reaches the crunch, life on the pitch had been a breeze for the team before the international break.
Nobody had come close to overtaking Tuchel’s troops over 90 minutes.
Since the sanctioning of Russian owner Roman Abramovich, they had won six in row.
But Brentford ripped up that form guide thanks to Vitaly Janelt’s double and goals from Eriksen and sub Yoane Wissa.
Frank (right, with Bees skipper Pontus Jansson) hailed his match-winners,
That was so untypical. I don’t know why we were not aware of the danger. It really is a summary of some strange events
CHELSEA: Mendy 6; Azpilicueta 5, Rudiger 6, Silva 5, Alonso 5; (James 55, 5) Loftus-cheek 6, Kante 6 (Lukaku 65, 5), Mount 6; Ziyech 6, Havertz 5, Werner 5 (Kovacic 64, 5). Arrizabalaga, Christensen, Jorginho, Saul, Barkley, Sarr.
and said: “Vitaly’s been a really good signing over the last two years.
“He has that rare ability as a midfielder to arrive from deep to score. He has four goals now, which is impressive in the Premier League.
“And I’ve just told Christian I’m happy he’s saved some goals for Brentford! He’s a top player. So calm. It’s an ongoing fairytale.
“We timed it perfectly to score four right in front of our fans . That makes it more special. Everything clicked today.”
Brentford moved 11 points clear of danger with this win. Chelsea, on the other hand, are only five ahead of fourthplaced rivals Arsenal, having played a game more.
It was home keeper Edouard Mendy, so outstanding in the league win at Brentford earlier this season, who set the pattern for a crazy afternoon by nearly gifting the visitors an early lead.
His careless pass went straight to Ivan Toney and the Senegal keeper was relieved to see the return shot fly over.
Chelsea seemed as disorganised as the lame pre-match demo against the unpopular Ricketts family trying to buy the club. The expected thousands numbered 150 at most
It took until midway through the first-half for them to produce a decent effort on target. Mason
Mount’s devilishlydisguised pass set up Hakim Ziyech, who was denied by David Raya.
You sensed frustrated Tuchel would let fly at the interval and, whatever was said, Rudiger took it to heart to set the place alight on 48 minutes.
Almost 40 yards out, the German took aim and found the back of the net with a stunner. Kai Havertz held his head in disbelief at the audacious piledriver.
Within six minutes, though, the Bees were not only level but ahead.
Firstly, Janelt burst through a wide-open defence to slam in. Four minutes later, Eriksen, all alone in the area, calmly fired in the second from Bryan Mbeumo’s pass.
Mendy was clutching his knee after colliding with Eriksen but refused to come off.
He was regretting that call six minutes on when beaten again.
Toney’s ball was inch-perfect and Janelt nipped in to cleverly chip in – and send the travelling masses wild.
Those scenes in the away end were even more crazy at the end after Wissa wrapped up the points following Rudiger’s miscue.