Graham Potter's winning run came to an end against Brentford with a frustrating 0-0 draw. The new boss continued an impressive unbeaten start to life, winning five of his seven games in charge, but the away draw left fans still wanting more.
After beating AC Milan and Aston Villa in consecutive away games, Potter was hopeful of picking up another three points against Thomas Frank's side but saw his team largely outplayed until the final 25 minutes. Changes meant that the Blues started with five academy graduates on the pitch.
Chelsea once more had Kepa Arrizabalaga to thank, the Spaniard made several fine saves, the best coming from an Ivan Toney header, to keep Brentford at bay, meanwhile Carney Chukwuemeka were lively substitutes.
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Potter decided against going full strength, with Thiago Silva rested and Ruben Loftus-Cheek moved to right wingback in the place of Reece James, with Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang only on as second half substitutes.
Although gaining just one point, Trevoh Chalobah and Kepa kept up good personal runs and the Blues have now recorded five clean sheets in a row. Football.london takes a look here at the reaction to the game from the national media.
Chelsea were far from their best as they escaped from the Gtech Stadium with a point after a 0-0 draw against Brentford. The result preserves Graham Potter's unbeaten start to life at Stamford Bridge, but the lacklustre performance from a number of stars will certainly have given him something to think about. Here, Express Sport pick out some of Chelsea's most disappointing players...
Marc Cucurella
Cucurella is yet to show the fine form which tempted Chelsea into splashing out £60m to sign him from Brighton in the summer. The Spaniard started in the left wing-back position over Ben Chilwell tonight, but did not display anything like the attacking prowess that his teammate manages on a regular basis.
True, Cucurella didn't do too much wrong. But equally, he showed very little offensively, and it would be no surprise to see Chilwell back in the starting line-up for the Blues' next match.
Armando Broja
Tonight was a big opportunity for Broja to shine, with the Albanian forward being handed his first-ever start at the Blues. But he failed to grab the opportunity with both hands, and was largely ineffective before being substituted in the second half.
Graham Potter unleashed close to the full power of his Chelsea attack - from the academy boys to the big established stars - and yet still the club that would rule the world found themselves stopped in their tracks just on the way out of west London.
The five-game all-competitions winning streak under Potter is over, although he remains unbeaten as Chelsea manager and there were times when it might have been worse. Brentford created the chances to win the match and whatever was thrown at them as their grip on the game slipped, Thomas Frank’s team still looked capable in this kind of company.
By the end they had faced just about every Chelsea attacker on the books, save the exiled Romelu Lukaku, as Potter sent on Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang to push for the win. One slip and Brentford would have lost everything in this compelling local argument. In the closing stages there was variously a fine tackle at the last from Ethan Pinnock on Sterling and then minutes later a great save by David Raya from the teenage substitute Carney Chukwuemeka.
That was how it ended – but in different parts of the game Kepa Arrizabalaga rescued Chelsea too with a pair of first half saves. Frank would later reflect ruefully that it was not the first time that a Chelsea goalkeeper had been his side’s best player, as was the case with Edouard Mendy last season when Chelsea won this fixture exactly one year earlier. He wondered at how all this was possible.
Chelsea manager Graham Potter shuffled the pack once again here with five more changes from Sunday's 2-0 win at Aston Villa.
A degree of rotation is inevitable given the condensed schedule ahead of the World Cup, and few could argue with it given he remains unbeaten from seven matches in charge. But there was little fluidity about Chelsea until Christian Pulisic, Carney Chukwuemeka and Raheem Sterling came on.
Pulisic was the liveliest of the trio, having a fierce 89th-minute shot beaten away by David Raya.
The U.S. men's national team star has started just two games this season and is desperate for more opportunities. That has to start somewhere and after his goal against Wolves ten days ago, this was another step in the right direction on a journey that he will hope to continue in the next few weeks before heading to Qatar.
Graham Potter tried both approaches. Chelsea’s head coach went with the academy boys from the start and he turned to the expensive cohort on his bench when he needed a winner. Afterwards, though, Potter would admit that Chelsea’s attack still requires further refurbishment. The onslaught took too long to arrive and, although the stadium was an anxious place during the dying stages, Brentford’s defiance ensured there was no way through.
There was Ethan Pinnock denying Raheem Sterling when the forward looked certain to score the winner. David Raya made vital saves. Chelsea had sniping runs from Christian Pulisic, glimmers from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and a promising cameo from Carney Chukwuemeka, but Brentford had heart and organisation.
Thomas Frank’s side more than merited a point and could argue that a famous victory would have been theirs had Ivan Toney not become the latest striker to discover that Kepa Arrizabalaga has become one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. Arrizabalaga’s trio of stops from Toney were the main positive for Potter.
Chelsea were ragged at the back for long spells and, although they remain in fourth place, Manchester United are only a point behind them before visiting Stamford Bridge on Saturday. “They had chances,” said Potter, whose five-match winning run is over. “We had chances. A point was right.”
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