Brentford became the first team to stop Chelsea from scoring this season, as they ran out deserved 3-0 winners on Friday.
After a cagey first-half, Jaidon Anthony (£5.9m) headed in from a set-piece.
As Chelsea pushed for an equaliser, Igor Thiago (£7.8m) finished off Kevin Schade’s (£6.1m) rapid counter-attack, before substitute Fabio Carvalho (£5.0m) rounded off a superb night for the hosts.
Here are our Scout Notes from the west London derby.
PEDRO INJURY LATEST
Joao Pedro (£7.8m) missed out for Chelsea as expected, having been left out of the Brazil squad earlier this week with a reported knee injury.
Xabi Alonso said that he’d hopefully be back after the international break.
“Joao, we tried, but we expect to use the international break for him to be back in the next game against Bournemouth.” – Xabi Alonso on Joao Pedro
Danny Welbeck (£5.9m) started in his place on Friday (more on that later).
Reece James (£5.4m), Moises Caicedo (£5.3m) and Marco Palestra (£5.3m) weren’t involved, either.
James has a “little” hamstring injury.
“Reece picked up a little injury in the last game against Hull and was feeling short in his recovery.” – Xabi Alonso on Reece James
In an interview with in-house media, Alonso was later asked if he would get any of his injured players back before the Bournemouth match in Gameweek 6…
“Yes, there’s this hope. They need to work. The medical department need to work hard to get them back. Hopefully that will happen.” – Xabi Alonso
THIAGO DROUGHT OVER, SCHADE’S ASSISTS
Brentford forward Thiago finally opened his account for the season.
The Brazilian was isolated for much of this match. However, he duly tucked away Brentford’s second, with a rebound from inside the penalty box after Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m) had denied the lively Schade.
He ended the match with five points, having been booked for taking off his shirt to celebrate.
It wasn’t for lack of trying, but Thiago had blanked in four successive matches prior to Friday.
“I don’t really have too many concerns about him. I speak to him most days and I’ve got a pretty special relationship with him. That’s a really calm finish, considering he hadn’t scored in the league yet. His overall game was sensational.” – Keith Andrews on Igor Thiago
With the Bees far more potent and direct in the second-half, Schade added his second assist late on.
His bonus remained low because a) he missed a big chance (resulting in a -3 deduction) and b) both of his assists were ‘Fantasy’ assists, meaning he recorded zero key passes or big chances created.
Still, it was another encouraging display for the German winger, who recorded a match-high three shots in the box.
Defensively, Janik Schuster (£4.5m) also deserves a mention. He defended his box superbly, banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points (see below) and the maximum bonus. He also supplied the headed assist for Anthony’s opener.
“They always tell me I have a lot of potential from set-pieces, but there hasn’t been much outcome from it yet. Hopefully I can score in the next few games as well.” – Janik Schuster
That said, it remains to be seen if Schuster will be first-choice upon the return of Nathan Collins (£5.4m) and Sepp van den Berg (£4.9m) from their respective injuries.
WHY SANGARE WAS BENCHED
Before kick-off, Keith Andrews explained his decision to bench Mamadou Sangare (£5.6m) in favour of Yehor Yarmoliuk (£4.8m).
“He’s done brilliantly, he’s settled in so well, which isn’t easy in this league with the intensity of it. He’s got all the attributes that we love, but Yarmo [Yarmoliuk] has been excellent, Vitaly [Janelt] has been excellent. We’ve got other midfielders, and I’ve no doubt Mamadou will feature heavily tonight.” – Keith Andrews on Mamadou Sangare
Sangare did indeed come off the bench in the second half, but was booked shortly after.
He’s since suffered an overnight price fall.
CHELSEA MISS PEDRO
As for Chelsea, the absence of Joao Pedro was notably felt at the Gtech Community Stadium.
While Welbeck has his qualities, they missed the Brazilian’s movement in the final-third and subsequently failed to pose much of a threat.
Cole Palmer (£9.7m) provided glimpses of his ability, while Morgan Rogers (£7.7m) had four shots.
But overall, Brentford dealt comfortably with the attacking trio.
Just two points each for Palmer and Rogers, then.
ALONSO’S LEAKY DEFENCE
Alonso reverted to a back three after playing four at the back in the 2-2 draw with Hull City last weekend.
The Spaniard brought Jordan Henderson (£4.9m) and Valentin Barco (£5.4m) into central midfield. To be fair, it worked in the first half.
However, Chelsea completely lost control after the break, and their defence was found wanting again.
They’ve now gone 22 Premier League matches without keeping a clean sheet, having conceded two or more goals in each of their first five Premier League games this season.
Leaking goals from left, right and centre, defending set plays remains a problem, too.
“We share the responsibility and we all share that feeling [of frustration]. Set-pieces are so important. We are conceding from them and we need to assess, analyse and improve for the future.” – Xabi Alonso
Pep Chavarria (£4.9m) was at least lively down the left, linking well with Barco on several occasions.
Maxence Lacroix (£5.9m) meanwhile banked DefCon points for the third time in four starts.
The international break perhaps comes at a good time for Chelsea, then, allowing them to regroup and hopefully get Pedro fit before they play Bournemouth.
“I’m disappointed at the end with the second half and the result. This is not enough to compete in the Premier League, not to be able to go for the 90 minutes. This is why today we were punished.
“At the moment, we are not being consistent enough to compete during the whole game – 45 [minutes] is not enough, you need to play the whole game knowing each detail is important and each action can be decisive.
“We dropped our consistency, and our competitive mentality needed in the second half. It’s about 95 minutes, and we have not been able to keep that level throughout these few games in the start of the season. It’s something that we’ll have to do better.” – Xabi Alonso
MATCH ANALYSIS
