Chelsea show steel to go with style in Premier League title race

As any football manager will attest, winning titles isn't always pretty.

There will be days when you blow another team off the park and win by a cricket score, matches where everything clicks and falls into place. There are others, however, where you have to dig in and really earn your victory, even those you don’t ultimately deserve.

Both, of course, are worth exactly the same in the league table and it was one of the latter for Chelsea on Saturday as they kept their place at the Premier League summit with the hardest of hard-fought wins away at Brentford.

Ben Chilwell volleyed the Blues into the lead just before half-time before the European champions were given all they could handle by the newly-promoted Bees in a frantic last 20 minutes that would later be described by the goalscorer as "hell on earth".

Wave upon wave of Brentford attacks were repelled at the last as Chelsea eventually emerged with an important three points to remain top.

Earlier Liverpool had taken the league lead themselves with the kind of performance that managers all want to see, a 5-0 thrashing of Watford that could and perhaps should have been 10.

The Reds and champions Manchester City have shown what is necessary to win the modern Premier League with top end performances delivered with relentless consistency now the norm for those who eventually emerge as winners.

Chelsea haven't won the title since 2017 and while they must strive to improve in every aspect of their game, they know the need to grind out results week in week out even when not at their best is equally important.

"We try our best to create chances," boss Thomas Tuchel said after his side mustered just a single shot on target. "I saw matches at Brentford and it’s not so easy to score, and not easy to keep clean sheets. We lacked precision, which is maybe the same song we sing for many weeks.

"We put a lot of effort into every part of the game. It’s not only about scoring, it’s about defending, counterpressing, escaping the pressure. Sometimes we maybe lack a bit of composure in front of goal. But we have quality and we trust our guys to score more goals.

"In general, Liverpool and Man City have proven in the last years they are the benchmark in terms of quality and consistency. They have shown what it takes to become champions. We have to improve in every aspect of the game, offensively and defensively, and we will not stop trying to create more for our strikers."

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With the attacking fluency lacking on the day Chelsea were instead left indebted to goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who produced a number of fine saves during that rollercoaster final quarter.

The Senegalese stopper has enjoyed a superb run since joining the club from Rennes last summer and was key as the Blues lifted the Champions League back in May.

For those in front of him his impact can't be overstated.

"He showed on Saturday he is one of the top keepers in the world, not just the Premier League. He is a top goalkeeper," centre-back Andreas Christensen said afterwards. "You can see how important he is to us, to the team. Yet again we are lucky we have him.

"People can see and recognise what he can do and the quality he has. It is hard when you watch him every day because you don’t see the process. We just enjoy having him here. He was always a confident goalkeeper when he came in.

"He is very loud on the pitch and really nice, confident guy off the pitch. He is trying to just help us every time. There were a lot of set pieces against us and we had to work hard not to concede.

"He is putting jobs on all of us that he wants us to do which is great. And if he feels safe that is a great thing. It gives him space to do what he can do, so we will listen to what he says."

One downside to the victory in west London was the continuation of Romelu Lukaku's scoring drought.

The Belgian, who returned to the club in a £98m transfer in the summer, started the season on fire but has now gone six club matches without a goal.

He thought he'd broken his duck in the first-half only to be flagged offside but retains the backing of his manager that he will soon come good in front of goal again.

"I am not concerned as I felt him a bit tired, and then isolated because we were defending too deep as a block," Tuchel added.

"I felt him a bit tired. Altogether we produced a very strong 60 to 75 minutes, including Romelu and Timo (Werner). Both of them, Romelu and Timo, were too far away to help us escape the pressure. That was the problem, but I have no concerns.

"Normally the best thing is that he scores but he is very unselfish at the moment, looking for Timo in good situations. And we had him in the situation (to score), it was a close offside decision."

The margins at the very top of the game remain as tight as ever. Chelsea continue to be on the right side of most as their title push continues to stay well on track with steel as well as style.