Brentford vs Chelsea LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight

The Blues consolidated their place at the top of the table as the high-flying Bees came close to pulling off another shock

Tuchel on Chelsea injuries and Brentford

Chelsea held off a late onslaught from Brentford to achieve a narrow away victory on Saturday and consolidate their place at the top of the Premier League table.

Thomas Tuchel’s side had emerged as early frontrunners for the title, with confidence clearly flowing after their Champions League triumph in the spring, but they recently suffered back-to-back defeats against top teams in Man City and Juventus to somewhat lose momentum. The Blues have now responded with two straight wins, however, this victory over a spirited Brentford outfit earning Chelsea three invaluable points.

Left-back Ben Chilwell, making just his second league start of the season, fired the visitors ahead on the cusp of half-time, blasting a superb half-volley past David Raya for his third goal in as many games for club and country. Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was equally important here, however, making a string of superb saves late in the game to help his side survive the swarming Bees. The best of the lot was a stop with his face to deny Pontus Jansson, though the Senegal international then also crucially tipped over a Christian Norgaard overhead kick from close range to secure the win.

Follow all the fallout from the top-flight meeting:

Brentford vs Chelsea

• Brentford XI: Raya, Zanka, Jansson, Pinnock, Canos, Jensen, Norgaard, Onyeka, Henry, Toney, Mbeumo
• Chelsea XI: Mendy, Chilwell, Chalobah, Christensen, Sarr, Azpilicueta, Loftus-Cheek, Kante, Kovacic, Lukaku, Werner
• Chilwell smashes home half-volley on cusp of half-time to give Chelsea lead
• Chelsea surive late swarming from the Bees to escape with narrow win

[16 October 2021 12:44 · Jack Rathborn]

(Getty)

[16 October 2021 12:43 · Michael Jones]

SAVE! Foster denies Salah

Watford 0 - 1 Liverpool

12 mins: Liverpool have been excellent so far. Robertson makes a diagonal run into the box from the left side and Matip flicks the ball over the top for him. He chests it down to Salah on the edge of the box and Salah shoots aiming for the far top corner. Foster shimmies across and gets a good hand on the ball to push it wide of goal and give Liverpool another corner.

[16 October 2021 12:40 · Jack Rathborn]

(Getty =)

Mohamed Salah of Liverpool takes a shot as Danny Rose of Watford FC attempts to block (Getty)

[16 October 2021 12:39 · Michael Jones]

GOAL! Watford 0 - 1 Liverpool (Mane. 9’)⚽️

9 mins: That didn’t take long! This is brilliant from Liverpool. Ben Foster sends a goalkick down Watford’s left side. Joel Matip wins the first ball and heads it towards Salah. He leans on Rose and turns off the shoulder of the left-back to get in behind the backline with the ball. Sadio Mane makes a run into the box and Salah picks him out with a pass from the outside of his left foot. Mane collects the ball and slots it coolly past Foster to pick up his 100th goal for Liverpool!

[16 October 2021 12:38 · Michael Jones]

Watford 0 - 0 Liverpool

6 mins: Salah’s got the beating of Rose. He knows he’s quicker than the Watford left-back and knocks the ball past him before sprinting towards the box. Again Sissoko gets back to help out but Salah manages to feed a pass to James Milner who’s made a run to the byline. He whips in a cross that gets blocked by William Troost-Ekong.

[16 October 2021 12:34 · Michael Jones]

Watford 0 - 0 Liverpool

3 mins: Liverpool have started strongly. Salah is getting some joy against Danny Rose on the Liverpool right side. The Egyptian shoulders his way past the defender and carries the ball into the box but he’s tackled by a sliding Moussa Sissoko.

The ball goes out for a corner that Trent Alexander-Arnold swings into the box but Watford deal with it easily enough.

[16 October 2021 12:33 · Michael Jones]

Watford 0 - 0 Liverpool

Kick off: Liverpool get the match underway and work it down the left side. A cross into the box is cleared out as far as Jordan Henderson who heads it across to Andy Robertson. Robertson heads the ball back into the box where Sadio Mane flicks it on. Mo Salah gets to the ball and blasts it into the near post only for the offside flag to go up.

[16 October 2021 12:28 · Michael Jones]

Here come the teams

Jordan Henderson leads out Liverpool at Vicarage Road with Moussa Sissoko leading the Hornets. Watford may get the much talked about boost from signing a new manager but they’ve got a difficult task ahead of them today.

[16 October 2021 12:23 · Michael Jones]

Rose on Liverpool

Watford’s Danny Rose expects a tough game against Liverpool but says his team will give it a good go under new boss Claudio Ranieri. He said:

We are playing against a team that are going to be fighting for the league so it’s going to be a very difficult game,

“I think people should expect a very attacking, exciting game because both teams have very exciting offensive players.

“I think the game will be a difficult one for both teams. We’ve had nearly two weeks of working with a new manager, so hopefully we will be able to show the new ideas that we have been working on in the past couple of weeks.”

[16 October 2021 12:17 · Michael Jones]

The warm ups are underway

The players are out on the pitch warming up. There’s 15 minutes to go until kick off, can Watford shock Liverpool again or will the Reds move back to the top of the table?