Enzo Maresca’s rotation gamble fails as Brentford hold Chelsea to goalless draw

Enzo Maresca’s calculated gamble did not come off. Chelsea’s head coach turned into the Tinkerman, benching Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto and Nicolas Jackson in an attempt to keep his best forwards fresh for the run-in, but his side’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were dented by their failure to summon any attacking inspiration before it was too late.

In fairness a point against motivated opponents may not prove to be the worst result in the final reckoning. Even so Chelsea have not won on the road since December and victory here would have tightened their grip on fourth place. The sense that this was a missed opportunity lingered, even if a punchy and resolute Brentford had chances to end an eight-match winless run at home.

The quick turnaround after last Thursday’s win over Tottenham forced Maresca to give more consideration to load management than he would have liked. The changes, though, did not lead to any discernible improvement in Chelsea’s energy levels at first. Their passing was too deliberate for much of a tepid opening period, the patterns in attack too mannered, and they were fortunate that Brentford were unable to make more of a number of promising moments before half-time.

Physical, organised and playing with a dash of adventure, Brentford’s initial strategy stemmed around their ability to draw Malo Gusto out of position before playing a series of long balls beyond the right-back. Kevin Schade kept spinning behind Gusto and had opportunities to punish him. For Brentford, the only quibble was their lack of composure in the final third. Yoane Wissa fired into the side-netting early on, Mikkel Damsgaard whipped a free-kick over and Keane Lewis-Potter should have done better with a free header from a corner.

Disjointed in possession, Chelsea offered little in reply. There were some decent touches from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who made only his second league start since joining from Leicester City last summer, but Christopher Nkunku was an irrelevance after taking Jackson’s place up front. The forward looked utterly unenthused every time he was asked to hold the ball up and there were times when his reluctance to put himself about made it feel as if the visitors were playing with 10 men.

Brentford were not under threat. Chelsea had a lot of the ball but their control was not accompanied by any incision. Maresca’s tactics were again under the microscope. It took Chelsea until the 34^th minute to have a shot on target, by which point there had already been a few grumbles from the away end about their side’s lack of creativity.

Yoane Wissa misses a good chance to give Brentford the lead. Photograph: Andrew Kearns/CameraSport/Getty Images

There were also nerves whenever Robert Sánchez was asked to use his feet. The goalkeeper’s distribution remains a major weakness and he almost cost Chelsea when he knocked a stray pass to Christian Nørgaard. Played in by Wissa, Damsgaard’s heavy touch let Chelsea off the hook.

The final part was the problem for Brentford. Bryan Mbeumo shot narrowly wide after a mistake from Reece James and the mood changed when Maresca replaced Nkunku with Jackson at half-time. Sepp van den Berg and Nathan Collins had cruised through the first half; now they were being stretched by a forward whose pace and strength made it harder for Brentford to hold a high line.

The threat grew, Jackson racing through to fire wide, Van den Berg almost scoring an own goal. Sensing a shift in the momentum, Maresca went even stronger for the final 30 minutes. Palmer replaced Dewsbury-Hall and was soon combining with another substitute, teeing up Pedro Neto to test Mark Flekken from 20 yards.

More tenacious, Chelsea pushed forward. Moisés Caicedo was in charge in midfield and Neto was lively after replacing Noni Madueke on the right. Flekken made another fine save when James headed goalwards.

Brentford fell back, relishing the fight. Their ability to dig in remains admirable. The longer it went on, the less likely Chelsea looked to score. Enzo Fernández was petulant and Jadon Sancho was ineffective. Brentford even could have won it, only for Sánchez to deny Mbeumo before Van den Berg and Wissa missed simple headers.

Chelsea’s impetus had faded. Palmer flashed a shot just over with the final kick of the game but a draw was fair. The question is whether Maresca will come to regret his tinkering.