{"id":376251,"date":"2026-01-18T03:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376251\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T03:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T03:01:08","slug":"chelsea-end-wait-for-league-win-after-joao-pedro-and-palmer-sink-brentford-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376251\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea end wait for league win after Jo\u00e3o Pedro and Palmer sink Brentford | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given he likes to talk, losing his voice is an inconvenience for Liam Rosenior, although it is one he can live with after winning his first three points as a Premier League<\/a> manager. The 41-year-old\u2019s hoarse tones after this hard-fought west London derby summed up the qualities Chelsea\u2019s players showed to win the game \u2013 resilience, determination and indifference to the fact they were far from their best.<\/p>\n

Cole Palmer scored the decisive goal from the penalty spot with 14 minutes remaining after Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher had brought down the substitute Liam Delap, adding to a video assistant referee-assisted first-half goal from Jo\u00e3o Pedro, to leave Rosenior waxing lyrically, if gruffly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m passionate so this will probably get worse,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cWhat pleased me most was the players\u2019 willingness to battle and fight. That attitude got us the goals and won us the game. By hook or by crook we did the basics of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosenior looked as calm as the ice-cold Palmer as he smashed his penalty past Kelleher, with the manager briefly exchanging low fives with his coaching staff on the bench, but for most of the game he paced the technical area barking instructions. The preceding 75 minutes had been far from straightforward for Chelsea and with better finishing Brentford<\/a> could have extended their unbeaten Premier League run to seven matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deserved at least a point on the balance of play, but sometimes the game isn\u2019t fair,\u201d said their manager, Keith Andrews. \u201cYou have to take opportunities when they come and we didn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Chelsea\u2019s tumultuous start to the year this was one of those games when only the result mattered, as Rosenior acknowledged afterwards. As in Wednesday\u2019s 3-2 defeat to Arsenal<\/a> in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, Chelsea looked vulnerable at the back and open in midfield for long periods, but dug in despite several players also suffering from a virus that led to Est\u00eav\u00e3o Willian being ruled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a other few players complaining about their chests, but they played and I\u2019m so proud of them,\u201d Rosenior said. \u201cCole and Reece [James] haven\u2019t trained, but they put themselves up to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole Palmer doubles Chelsea\u2019s lead from the penalty spot. Photograph: Ian Stephen\/Every Second Media\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Chelsea started slowly in a becalmed atmosphere, enabling the visitors to take the initiative. Mathias Jensen twice got in behind Marc Cucurella in the opening exchanges, with one deflected shot bringing a good save from Robert S\u00e1nchez while Kevin Schade should have given Brentford the lead in the 21st minute, but opted to square the ball to Mikkel Damsgaard when he was in a good position to shoot, allowing Tosin Adarabioyo to make a scrambled clearance. Adarabioyo was later withdrawn due to a hamstring problem, with Chelsea\u2019s injury crisis mounting.<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s attacking efforts by midway through the first half had been limited to Jo\u00e3o Pedro appealing for a penalty after slight contact from Michael Kayode, which was waived away by John Brooks, a decision upheld by the VAR, Stuart Attwell.<\/p>\n

Chelsea secured a crucial call in their favour from Attwell shortly afterwards, however, taking the lead against the balance of play in the 26th minute with a goal that contained two elements of fortune. Kayode\u2019s clearance was deflected off Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez into the path of Jo\u00e3o Pedro, who beat Kelleher with a smart left-foot finish only to be ruled offside.<\/p>\n

A relatively brief review by recent standards established the Brazilian was narrowly onside, with the 24-year-old claiming his eighth goal of the season.<\/p>\n

Brentford spurned two further chances before half-time, with Schade heading wide from Vitaly Janelt\u2019s corner and Jansen hitting the post with a left-foot volley. They survived a major let-off with Alejandao Garnacho shooting wide at the far post from Pedro Neto\u2019s cross when Kelleher was beaten.<\/p>\n

The second half followed a similar pattern, Igor Thiago missing a good chance with a header, before Nathan Collins\u2019s poor back pass to Kelleher ended the contest. The Republic of Ireland goalkeeper did his best to salvage the situation, but clearly caught Delap as he stretched to clear from his penalty area and could not stop Palmer\u2019s spot-kick.<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s first win in six Premier League games was sorely needed, both to keep them on Manchester United\u2019s heels after their impressive win against City<\/a> and to build faith among players and fans in Rosenior\u2019s methods.<\/p>\n

While the players appear onside on this evidence, the subdued atmosphere suggests many fans remain to be convinced.<\/p>\n

This article was amended on 17 January 2026. An earlier version had mistakenly referred to Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher as \u201cthe Northern Ireland goalkeeper\u201d, when Republic of Ireland was meant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Given he likes to talk, losing his voice is an inconvenience for Liam Rosenior, although it is one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-376251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}