Bees pull off stunning derby triumph by thrashing Chelsea
Brentford pulled off a stunning derby victory by thrashing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Thomas Frank’s men responded to a terrific strike by Antonio Rudiger to plunder four second-half goals – two from Vitaly Janelt, plus efforts from Christian Eriksen and Yoane Wissa.
The Bees started brightly and caused Chelsea problems early on. Ivan Toney went close with a header and then Eriksen curled a left foot shot a yard over from around 20 yards out.
Chelsea, sitting third in the table, eventually responded, with Mason Mount taking aim from 20 yards with a shot which went narrowly over.
Rudiger and Mount had further opportunities as the Blues began to take control, but Brentford remained resourceful and keeper David Raya produced a fantastic save to deny a whipped effort from Hakim Ziyech in the 27th minute.
For all their hard work Chelsea could not breach Frank’s outfit – until the second half burst into life, beginning with Rudiger’s goal three minutes after the restart.
With sufficient space and time, the German defender rocketed a 30 yard strike in off the post.
But Brentford hit back three times in 11 minutes to stun Thomas Tuchel’s side.
On a counter-attack, Bryan Mbeumo selflessly set up Janelt who blasted an unstoppable left foot shot beyond Edouard Mendy in the 50th minute.
And the clearly delighted Bees players took another opportunity when they went ahead four minutes later. Eriksen, unmarked inside the Chelsea penalty area, opened his Brentford account in fine style, clipping the ball over Mendy from another clever Mbeumo assist.
On 61 minutes, Janelt made it 3-1 for the visitors by fastening on to a forward pass from Toney and casually tuned the ball over Mendy.
Kai Havertz slid the ball inches wide after eluding Ethan Pinnock but to add to the European champions misery, Bees’ substitute Wissa made an instant impact when he drilled in goal number four.
The forward took full advantage of the Blues’ inability to clear the danger to rifle home a low shot from ten yards.
Chelsea: Mendy, Rudiger, Alonso (James 55), Silva, Kante (Lukaku 65), Werner (Kovacic 64), Loftus-Cheek, Mount, Ziyech, Azpilicueta, Havertz
Brentford: Raya, Henry (Canos 87), Pinnock, Jansson, Ajer, Norgaard, Eriksen, Janelt (Jensen 81), Roerslev, Mbeumo (Wissa 84), Toney
