Ranking Chelsea's 5 best players in 1-0 win against Brentford | Premier League 2021-22
Brentford had Chelsea on the ropes for the final 25-30 minutes of the game, but Thomas Tuchel's side held on to their 1-0 lead to pick up another win in the Premier League. Ben Chilwell's first-half strike was enough to see the Champions of Europe stay on top of the league for another week.
Chelsea came into the game with six away wins in London derbies and were looking to make history by becoming the first team ever to win seven consecutive ones. However, Thomas Tuchel was depleted at the back, with Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger missing out.
The German manager opted to hand Malang Sarr a debut, and the Frenchman showed he could be the heir to the left center-back role when Rudiger is done at Chelsea. Tuchel also picked Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku to lead the attack, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic playing in midfield.
Ben Chilwell scored late in the first half to hand Chelsea the lead after the linesman ruled out Romelu Lukaku's goal a few minutes before the left-back found the back of the net. Brentford were unwilling to sit back and went all out for a point – but were kept at bay by Edouard Mendy, who ended up making several saves with different parts of his body.
Here are Chelsea's top 5 players from the 1-0 win over Brentford:
#5 - Timo Werner
It was a close call between Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell for the fifth place today, but the German nicked it as he was the only one giving the Brentford side a tough time. The former RB Leipzig star was running up and down the pitch throughout the game and was trying his best to get back on the scoresheet.
He did have two good chances to find the back of the Brentford net, but the resilient defenders blocked the shots. Werner managed to put in a delicious ball for Romelu Lukaku to tap in, but the Belgian was offside when the ball was played and the goal did not count.
#4 - Malang Sarr
After a shaky start in the EFL Cup against a second-string Aston Villa, it was a big call by Thomas Tuchel to hand Malang Sarr a debut against Brentford – a side who press high. The Frenchman slotted into the left center-back role today as Antonio Rudiger was out injured.
The former Nice defender finished the game with 10 clearances, 6 interceptions, 3 tackles and was giving Bryan Mbeumo a tough time when he tried to get into the Chelsea box.