CHELSEA 2-1 BRENTFORD: CUCURELLA, JACKSON SCORE TO LIFT BLUES 2 POINTS OFF LIVERPOOL
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Chelsea took advantage of their rivals’ slip-ups to move two points off the top of the Premier League but made hard work of a narrow 2-1 win over Brentford.
The Blues did not make the same mistake as Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City who had all been held at home earlier in the weekend, but made hard work of seeing off a Brentford side who had picked up only one away point all season.
They took a deserved lead into the break when Marc Cucurella nodded in his first Premier League goal for the Blues minutes before the interval, having dominated the opening half without creating much in the way of clear-cut chances.
Nicolas Jackson should have put the game to bed on the hour mark when he ballooned the influential Jadon Sancho’s cross over from six yards out, and without that the Blues’ narrow lead always remained precarious.
Brentford came so close to making them pay as momentum began to shift and Christian Norgaard pulled a superb finger-tip stop out of Robert Sanchez, before Fabio Carvalho’s sliding effort bounced down off the bar, no more than a few inches from crossing the line.
Enzo Maresca’s celebrations which greeted Jackson’s thunderous second after a quick counter-attack summed up the relief around Stamford Bridge with 10 minutes left as Chelsea finally gave themselves a cushion to defend.
But even then, a hospital pass of a throw from Cucurella to Moises Caicedo saw a Brentford counter finished off stylishly by Bryan Mbeumo, leaving the Blues to see out a nervy seven minutes of added time before they could finally celebrate stealing a march on their title rivals with victory.
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