Our unbeaten run comes to an end

Chelsea won Liam Rosenior's first Premier League match as head coach as they secured a battling home victory against the mighty Bees who were undefeated in their previous six matches. Joao Pedro's powerful first-half strike and Cole Palmer's penalty after the break gave Chelsea a 2-0 win. But they did not have it all their own way, with the Bees having more possession, shots, and shots on target than their hosts.

We started brightly and Kevin Schade had our first two attempts on goal, before passing to Mikkel Damsgaard when he should have taken the chance to shoot. When Chelsea responded, Palmer curled a shot over, and Joao Pedro had a penalty appeal waved away before the Brazilian broke the deadlock on 26 minutes. Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez forced Michael Kayode into a mistake on the edge of his own box (something I had predicted was bound to happen the way Kayode plays) and as the ball broke, Joao Pedro smashed the ball past Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. We rallied and Damsgaard, Schade and Mathias Jensen, who struck the post, all had chances to equalise, and Alejandro Garnacho missed an open goal from six yards at the other end.

Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was then forced into a superb save to deny Schade in a one-on-one early in the second half. With the Bees continuing to press, Rosenior sought to protect his lead, withdrawing Garnacho for Andrey Santos in a defensive change. That merely invited more pressure, though, and Igor Thiago uncharacteristically headed wide. Chelsea were able to punish that mistake as a misplaced pass from Nathan Collins and slow reactions from Kelleher allowed substitute Liam Delap to intercept and draw a foul in the area from the goalkeeper. Palmer sent Kelleher the wrong way to seal their victory.