LONDON, ENGLAND - In the span of 10 minutes, Chelsea went from the familiar position of a goal to do well at home, wondering if their season was about to settle down.
An excellent goal from Antonio Rudiger at the start of the second half brought relief to Stamford Bridge, but it was only a momentary respite from the battle for off-field ownership and on-field uncertainty now engulfing the club. This was followed by a brutal display of the host's fragile state as Christian Eriksson, Mads Rorslev and Brian Mbumo registered a historic 4–1 win for Brentford.
Brentford struck Chelsea three times in a counter-attack from the 50th to the 60th minute, with Vitaly Genault striking twice on either side of Ericsson's first Premier League goal for Bez. Yoann Visas secured a quarter in the dying embers of the game and guided them to their first victory over their London neighbors since 1939 – just 5.5 miles between Stamford Bridge and the grounds of Brentford.
In their first season in the Premier League, it was Brentford's biggest win of the campaign, and one of the most impressive in the club's history. It was arranged for Chelsea through hustle and bustle, high pressure and spectacular fuss. He had little respect for the traditional older brothers. Instead Thomas Frank's side ramped up their strategy as Chelsea struggled to break through the high press, with Brentford ready to retaliate whenever Chelsea's desperation overtook them.
Mbumo was the only out-ball for Brentford, but it all went through that midfield maestro Ericsson. He has won three in his four starts for the club - no wonder Frank is desperate to keep the Danish midfielder beyond the end of this season.
"Christian is a top player," Frank said on Saturday. "He's an ongoing story and I'm very happy for that. He's calm on the ball, he finds a solution, and he delivers goals and assists."
The win for Brentford put them 11 points above the relegation zone, and while they can start planning for next season, Chelsea's immediate and distant future remains uncertain. With the club up for sale, four bids remain ahead of the April 11 deadline.
"We conceded three goals in 10 minutes, which is unusual. I don't know why we did that," Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel later said. "We didn't defend mature enough and it was too weird for us. We got penalized. This is a summary of strange events. It was a rough start for us - we felt a little sluggish, which is normal. Usually the goal is fine. Exactly what we wanted to open new locations, but the opposite happened, and I don't know why."
The making of the match was dominated by who their potential owners would be and due to the controversy surrounding the purchase of the club by the Ricketts family. Earlier on Saturday the Chelsea Supporters Trust announced its membership "neither supports nor believes in the Ricketts' family's bid for the club." In a CST survey, he stated that 77% of its members did not support Ricketts' bid.
This was in response to comments made by Chancellor Joe Ricketts in a leaked email exchange several years ago that "Muslims are naturally our enemies." It's been three years since Joe Ricketts apologized after online media outlet Splinter News published emails containing anti-Islamic remarks, such as Islam "is a sect and not a religion."
On Saturday, the Ricketts family issued a statement saying that "diversity and inclusion" were at the heart of their bid for the club, but a group of 100 or more fans outside the stadium opposed their bid (many under the banner 'No To'). Ricketts read ')') and CST's statement, they are a way of convincing Stamford Bridge to be the rightful custodian of the club.
Tuchel asked supporters to clarify their feelings off the field before the match, and not during the match so as not to "distract" the team. He stated that the prematch team was "not affected" by the protest, but still with the huge trading shop closed and the souvenir vans lying empty outside the stadium.
Although the protests remained outside the stadium, Chelsea caused a flurry at the start - Brentford could have been twice in the first 10 minutes with Ivan Toni - and although Chelsea scored a goal from David Raya with some well-mannered efforts. completed. , it required the thunderbolt of a drive from Rudiger to break the deadlock (conservative estimates place it at around 35 yards).
Fewer teams leaned back, but Brentford used it to go up another gear and Genault equalized two minutes later. Mbuemo then picked Eriksson to finish from close range for his second, and Genault chipped the third over to Mendy - who had been battling a knee injury throughout the match - to make it 3-1.
"We timed it perfectly to score four goals in front of our fans," said Frank. "In football you work so hard, so many hours, every day, every week. Sometimes you don't get what you deserve, but today everything clicked. Winning against the European champions here at Stamford Bridge, this It was almost a perfect performance. What I love is that we were brave, under high pressure - it was a big moment for the club."
As cool as Chelsea fans were, Brentford supporters were keeping it in their corner of the stadium. They went through their full repertoire of songs, and the third brought the first rendition of "We're Just a Bus Stop in Hounslow"—a self-deprecating song referring to the previous baton from Queens Park Rangers fans.
Brentford then added an astonishing fourth place in the 87th minute via substitute Visa. They are on the map now, but retaining Ericsson is the key to growing this team.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are grappling with uncertainty. The picture of off-field ownership should become clear by the end of the month, but it may be too late to put their defensive backbone together and keep the season on track.
Andreas Christensen is reportedly on the verge of joining Barcelona, with Rudiger also out of contract and Cesar Azpilicueta's future uncertain despite the club triggering an extension clause in his contract, for Tuchel to feel comfortable with. There are a lot of distractions as they are planning another huge match. on Wednesday. And that's on top of poor performances from poor performers Timo Werner, Marcos Alonso, and those endless errors.
"It feels like another blip. I would refuse to make a play out of it," Tuchel said Saturday. "Why should we? Brentford made a lot of the 10 minutes we gave us. We had a denied goal after the third goal and then we had a big, big chance from Kai Havertz and we missed him. That's all. There's a mix of some, but I wouldn't count on that for luck. We'll find out why it was so, we'll analyze, digest - it's unusual for us and it's hard to take. We'll pay attention again on Monday."
With Real Madrid coming to City in the Champions League quarter-finals this week and Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-finals on April 17, Tuchel has what it takes to get this side back on track. Chelsea were looking sluggish with wrong pass after pass.
By the time Visa finished Brentford's fourth, Chelsea supporters were streaming in for an exit. With blue seats around Stamford Bridge and Brentford fans chanting "We Want Five" in Chelsea players' ears, Tuchel shook Frank's hand and went straight down the tunnel at the full-time whistle. He would hope that the result was a mere blip rather than a poor start to the season.