Chelsea humbled at home, United drop points again

A picture that speaks a thousand words. Christian Eriksen smiling on the turf while Eduard Mendy rolls in shame after the Dane poked one past him on Saturday. Brentford won 4-1. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

Chelsea have a lot going on behind the scenes but they have managed to keep it a buck on the pitch, which didn’t give anyone an inkling of what could go wrong on Saturday when Thomas Frank’s Brentford visited the Stamford Bridge Stadium.

Brentford already made headlines with big results this season, the win on day one at home against Arsenal, the strong point they got against City and their amazing performance at home to Chelsea in the reverse fixture taught us a few things, but we didn’t see the Stamford Bridge hurricane coming.

Chelsea couldn’t control the game, they were let off the hook many times in the first half with Ivan Toney missing glit-edged chances to keep the score line goalless, and it was the second half that rained goals like no man’s business.

Chelsea drew the first blood early in the second half through a sensational strike from Anthony Rudiger, there was nothing the goalkeeper could do to that and many would think the Blues would go on from there to win the game.

Brentford had other ideas and it was as though the Blues stirred the Bee-hive. Brentford fired four past Chelsea’s ever reliable Edoaurd Mendy and there wasn’t a single reply, the top of that must be Christian Eriksen’s goal, his first since his miraculous return to English football following the Euros nightmare.

The loss meant Chelsea could now be drawn into the top four battle, especially if Arsenal beat Crystal Palace on Monday, the Gunners would be only two points off the Blues and with both still to play this season, it’s up in the air.

Straight to Old Trafford where the Red Devils failed to inspire again. Birds were busy whispering before kickoff that there were no signs of Cristiano Ronaldo in the home side’s squad and it was confirmed when the official team sheet was released, is he picking his games now?

Leicester beat United in the first leg and came determined to strengthen their own case of a possible top 8 finish and could easily have left Old Trafford with the three points if not for the intervention of the VAR late on in the game.

The first half was a boring affair, Bruno Fernandes did have a chance but his weak effort was kicked away by Kasper Schmeichel, Kelechi Iheanacho had the best chance for the visitors but his effort was well wide of the mark.

The second half was more eventful. The Foxes struck first with a fine header that beat David De Gea in the United goal, it was the fourth time Iheanacho would be celebrating a goal against United, the stadium was left in shock but not for long.

Fernandes’ strike was parried but not far away as Fred latched on to the loose ball faster than anyone else from the visitor’s side and it was 1-1. The delirium that followed was supposed to fire up the home side but it was the visitors that scored again.

Fine footwork from Iheanacho in the United area set up James Maddison and the England midfielder fired home what he thought was the winner but VAR chalked it off for a foul on Raphael Varane in the buildup. The game ended 1-1 and heaped more pressure on Manchester United in the race for top four.