Premier League: Chelsea slowed down, Liverpool continues, Newcastle on the lookout

With a slightly reshuffled team at kick-off, Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being on the bench, Chelsea, jostled at the start of the match, then lacked sharpness.

The point of the draw brings the Blues’ total, fourth, to 20, but leaves them three lengths from the podium, while Brentford remain in the first part of the table, 9th with 14 units.

The result may seem disappointing for a team that remained on five wins in a row and whose grip on the match grew over the minutes.

But apart from a shot from a tight angle by Carney Chukwuemeka in added time (90 + 4), it was their opponents who were closest to scoring and without a once again impeccable Kepa, they could even have left empty-handed.

Brentford striker Ivan Toney, who is still hoping for a selection for the World Cup as Harry Kane’s understudy, saw the Blues’ Spanish goalkeeper divert two of his headers (9th, 34th) while Bryan Mbeumo, alone at six meters in all start of the second period, stung his right on the doorman (50th).

If the end of the match looked like attack-defense, Chelsea will quickly have to refocus on the next opponent of a completely different caliber since it is Manchester United who will travel to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Liverpool reaps

A small goal was enough for the Reds to be happy against an eye-catching West Ham side, and Jürgen Klopp’s players can be happy to take three points again, just three days after their symbolically strong victory against Manchester City on Sunday.

Sixth with 16 points, but under threat from Manchester United whose match is still in progress, Liverpool is not yet where it should be in the hierarchy, but it is getting closer little by little.

The success owes a lot to Darwin Nunez, omnipresent in the first period.

He sent the first banderilla of a very “papinesque” recovery that Lukasz Fabianski slammed above his crossbar (15th).

Party postponed, since seven minutes later, on a perfect cross from Kostas Tsimikas, his uncrossed pricked header was absolutely unstoppable (1-0, 22nd).

The Uruguayan could have doubled the bet if a new sublime strike had not come crashing into the post (39th).

But Liverpool can also thank Alisson who stopped a penalty from Jarrod Bowen just before the break, after a foul by Joe Gomez on the same Bowen (44th).

Newcastle points its nose

Held in check at Manchester United (0-0) last weekend, Newcastle resumed its march forward and temporarily reached 5th place (18 pts) with its short success against Everton.

There too, a flash will have decided the match in the form of a delicious curling strike from Miguel Almiron who, despite Jordan Pickford’s desperate relaxation, ran aground in the opposite side netting (1-0, 31st).

In the five minutes following this goal, the defector from Lyon, Bruno Guimaraes, should have doubled the bet twice, to put his team under cover.

But the result did not reflect Newcastle’s overwhelming dominance against the Toffees who fired once off target in 90 minutes.