By Betsefy
Head coach Thomas Frank says that his Brentford deserved more than a goalless draw against in-form Chelsea in their Premier League fixture on Wednesday night.
The visitors to the Gtech Community Stadium are currently one of the form teams in English football with Graham Potter yet to suffer defeat as Blues boss.
However, for the second game in succession, Chelsea were indebted to goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga who managed to preserve his clean sheet throughout the 90 minutes.
Ivan Toney squandered several openings, the majority of them coming in the opening period, while Bryan Mbeumo somewhat failed to convert a header at the back post after the break, instead sending his effort straight at Arrizabalaga.
Nevertheless, Brentford ended the evening with a second shutout in succession, ensuring that they occupy ninth position in the standings.
After the game, Frank spoke highly of his players, talking up their effort against a team who were winning the Champions League when they earned promotion 17 months ago.
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Frank told Amazon Prime: “The feeling is a strange one as we were playing against Chelsea. That day when we got promoted, they won the Champions League final so the difference between the two teams is immense.
“But the performance we had, especially in the first half, we were by far the better team. Overall we should deserve the win, from the 84th minute we were looking a bit tired but I think we did fantastically.
“Kepa [Arrizabalaga] was fantastic. Every time Chelsea come here, their goalkeeper is man of the match. Now we need to recover and I need to find a good starting 11.”
Chelsea counterpart Graham Potter acknowledged his disappointment when quizzed by the same broadcaster, although the Englishman admitted that a stalemate had been a fair outcome.
Potter said: “We’re always disappointed when we don’t win. Over the course of the game a point is fair, they had chances and we pushed at the end.
“It was a tough game against a team that makes it tough. We pushed and pushed and gave it everything. It’s not easy with the schedule but we put the effort in and I’m proud of them – it’s a hard-earned point.”
Chelsea, who remain in fourth spot, are next in action on Saturday evening when they play host to Manchester United, while Brentford make the trip to the West Midlands to face Aston Villa a day later.
