Tuchel’s side had been knocked out of pole position by
Liverpool’s 5-0 rout of Watford a few hours earlier.
But Chelsea had the perfect response with a gritty victory
in their first league meeting with their west London neighbours for 74 years.
Ben Chilwell’s fiercely-struck goal in first half
stoppage-time was enough to give Chelsea their sixth win in eight league games.
But Chelsea had to rely on a series of fine saves from Mendy
in the closing stages before they could move one point clear of second placed
Liverpool.
“They trouble you with long throws and set pieces. They
created big chances and Mendy was the key to the clean sheet,” Tuchel said.
At the start of a five-game run of winnable league fixtures,
Tuchel had warned his players not to expect an easy ride from Brentford and the
Chelsea boss was proved right.
“We were very strong for 70 minutes and very lucky for 20
minutes, to sum it up,” Tuchel said.
“We escaped with the three points thanks to Edouard. It was
like a cup game at the end; they took risks and the atmosphere gave them a lot
of courage.
“It is better to be there at the top but there are way too
many teams who are close.”
Just five months ago, the gulf between the clubs appeared
huge as Chelsea won the Champions League on the day Brentford earned promotion
to the top-flight for the first time since 1947.
However, Brentford had already bloodied the noses of two
supposedly superior opponents this term, with Arsenal beaten at the Community
Stadium and Liverpool held to a draw.
They pushed Chelsea to the brink as well with another
spirited showing.
Romelu Lukaku was without a club goal in his last five games
and the Belgium striker misfired with Chelsea’s first shot of the game, bending
a free-kick well off target.
Brentford nearly snatched the lead when a set-piece caused
havoc in the Chelsea defence and Bryan Mbeumo slammed his shot against the
post.
Brentford barrage
Tuchel’s men weren’t at their most fluent as Brentford
worked tirelessly to deny them time and space.
Timo Werner held his head in frustration after curling
inches wide with a strike from the edge of the area after Lukaku teed up the
German.
Chilwell finally broke Brentford’s stubborn resistance in
the first minute of stoppage-time as the left-back extended his unexpected hot
streak.
Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross towards Lukaku was only cleared to
the edge of the area, where Chilwell was waiting to lash a superb strike high
past Raya.
Chilwell’s second goal in his last two Chelsea games came
after he also netted for England against Andorra during the recent
international break.
Chelsea were without defenders Thiago Silva and Toni
Rudiger, with Malang Sarr making his Premier League debut.
The Blues had conceded just one goal from open play in the
league this season and the stand-ins somehow held firm amid Brentford’s second
half barrage.
Mendy had to make his first save in the 73rd minute when the
Senegal keeper repelled Ivan Toney’s snap-shot.
Mbeumo almost grabbed a Brentford equaliser with a low drive
that beat Mendy, only to cannon back off the post before Chelsea cleared the
danger.
With Brentford pouring forward, Mendy had to save again from
a Saman Ghoddos effort before Trevoh Chalobah cleared Christian Norgaard’s shot
off the line.
Mendy made yet another great stop, diving at Pontus
Jansson’s feet to keep out the Brentford captain’s close-range shot.
Inevitably, there was more work for Mendy to do in
stoppage-time and he rose to the challenge with a brilliant tip-over from
Norgaard’s overhead kick.
AFP