Trevoh Chalobah is the only Chelsea player from last team to beat Brentford to survive in current squad
If there’s one team that continue to cause problems for Chelsea amid their ongoing struggles, then it’s certainly Brentford.
The Blues had to come from behind to settle for a 2-2 draw against the Bees on Saturday to keep them 11th in the Premier League.
Chelsea are a far cry from what they were during the 2021/22 season, Brentford’s first campaign in the top-flight of English football.
Thomas Tuchel’s side beat their west London neighbours 1-0 in their first league meeting before sealing a 2-0 Carabao Cup victory later in the year but since then, Chelsea haven’t won any of their last five meetings.
First was a 4-1 thumping at Stamford Bridge and then a 0-0 draw away before back-to-back 2-0 losses.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw has only added to the winless run, with just one player from the matchday squad featuring in their last victory in the west London derby.
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Trevoh Chalobah, who made his first Premier League start of the season, is the sole survivor from that Carabao Cup winning side.
Seven of the starting XI that night have all left the club with club legend Cesar Azpilicueta, Mateo Kovacic and Marcos Alonso all moving to pastures new.
Xavier Simons is now at Fleetwood Town on loan from Hull City, Ross Barkley stars for Luton Town, Saul returned to Atletico Madrid after his loan and Jude Soonsup-Bell is at Tottenham.
Kepa Arrizabalaga and Harvey Vale remain at the club albeit on loan at Real Madrid and Bristol Rovers respectively, with Malang Sarr’s last Chelsea appearance coming in 2022.
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Chelsea’s latest starting XI looks very different in comparison, with seven of them not at the club since the last win over Brentford.
Ben Chilwell missed out due to a cruciate ligament injury, Levi Colwill was on loan at Huddersfield Town and Conor Gallagher spent the season with Crystal Palace.
Chelsea star Moises Caidcedo asks legendary Premier League centre back and former Chelsea captain John Terry for a photo
The draw was another result that Chelsea could very easily have won if they took their chances, although there were also concerns about losing yet again.
Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring in the first-half with a strong header moments after he missed an open goal.
Chelsea have been poor in the opening minutes of second halves as of late and Saturday’s west London derby was certainly no exception.
Mads Roerslev was on hand to equalise for Brentford in the 50th minute by capitalising on Axel Disasi’s failure to clear the ball.
Yoane Wissa then scored one of the goals of the season with 21 minutes left on the clock as he netted a stunning bicycle kick from inside the area.
The Blues were able to snatch a point late on though as Disasi made up for his earlier error to head in from Cole Palmer’s cross, although there were still anti-Mauricio Pochettino chants from the away end.
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With their recent results against Brentford, Chelsea will be delighted that they won’t meet again this season as they look to salvage any sort of success in the remaining weeks.
FA Cup success is still on the cards and it looks set to be the only way they will qualify for Europe, with doubts increasingly raised over a top seven finish.
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