Chelsea made it five consecutive wins in the Premier League by beating Brentford under the lights at Stamford Bridge on Sunday night.
The Blues consolidated second position in the Premier League this weekend with a 2-1 home victory over Brentford.
Chelsea had lost their previous three consecutive matches at home to the Bees, but they exacted some revenge tonight with an important win.
Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson put the hosts into a two-goal lead. Despite Bryan Mbuemo’s 90th minute goal for Brentford, Chelsea held on for all three points.
As a result, Enzo Maresca’s side are now only two points behind league leaders Liverpool. This young Chelsea squad is finally showing the consistency and form that supporters have waited for.
Stuart Pearce praises Marc Cucurella
Stuart Pearce picked out Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella as his Man of the Match from the win over Brentford.
His standout moment was a superb headed goal just before half time after getting on the end of Noni Madueke’s cross.
Even though Cucurella scored his first goal of the season in the weekend victory, he’ll leave with mixed feelings. Unfortunately, the 26-year-old left-back will miss the next game through suspension because he received two yellow cards late on in unnecessary fashion.
Pearce said on talkSPORT 2’s coverage of Chelsea versus Brentford (8:59pm, 15 December): “I thought Cucurella did well. I’ve got to give it to Cucurella (Man of the Match). His energy up and down the pitch, he’s got the breakthrough goal that was really important. He was a real irritant to Brentford. But he irritated me at the end of the game by getting sent off and going to the ground cheaply. I’ve got to give it to him, consistently he was very good.”
Finally, Cucurella is consistently showing the levels he reached at Brighton. Jason Cundy says Chelsea defender Cucurella is enjoying his football.
The Spanish full-back impacts the game so much up and down the left flank all game, so his absence next Sunday against Everton through suspension will be a blow.
Marc Cucurella vs Brentford
If you look past the closing stages where he was dismissed, Cucurella put in another really solid shift for Chelsea in their home win over Brentford.
FOTMOB data has provided the individual statistics from Cucurella’s display on Sunday night:
- Match rating – 7.3
- Minutes played – 89
- Goals – 1
- Touches – 62
- Accurate passes – 32/35 (91%)
- Chances created – 1
- Tackles won – 2/2 (100%)
- Interceptions – 1
- Recoveries – 5
- Clearances – 2
- Was fouled – 2
- Fouls committed – 3
As you can see above, Cucurella was pivotal again for Chelsea from the left-back slot. The logical guess would be Renato Veiga comes in to replace him in the starting XI next weekend away to Everton.
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