{"id":263335,"date":"2026-09-18T21:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/18\/pl-giants-glaring-issue-exposed-again-in-horror-show-as-underdogs-dream-start-continues\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:32:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:32:00","slug":"pl-giants-glaring-issue-exposed-again-in-horror-show-as-underdogs-dream-start-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/18\/pl-giants-glaring-issue-exposed-again-in-horror-show-as-underdogs-dream-start-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"PL giant\u2019s glaring issue exposed again in horror show as underdogs\u2019 dream start continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brentford exposed Chelsea\u2019s defensive problems to inflict a damaging 3-0 defeat on Friday that gives Xabi Alonso plenty to ponder over a three-week international break.<\/p>\n

After a promising start to life under the former Real Madrid coach, Chelsea have picked up just one point from their last three league games.<\/p>\n

\ufeffGet all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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Goals from Jaidon Anthony, Igor Thiago and Fabio Carvalho took unbeaten Brentford above their west London neighbours and up to third in the table.<\/p>\n

Chelsea had quickly earned the reputation as the Premier League\u2019s great entertainers under Alonso with their opening four games containing 19 goals.<\/p>\n

But the loss of Joao Pedro to a knee injury subdued the Blues\u2019 free-flowing attack as Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers were comfortably kept in check by the Bees.<\/p>\n

Alonso said after last weekend\u2019s 2-2 draw against Hull he was hoping for more \u201cboring\u201d games going forward.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard sought control as he made four changes in all, handing Jordan Henderson his first Chelsea start against the 36-year-old\u2019s former club.<\/p>\n

Alonso got his wish during a flat first half in which neither goalkeeper was seriously tested, but Brentford were the more threatening side in the second period.<\/p>\n

The visitors\u2019 frailty from set pieces led to the opening goal when Jannick Schuster rose highest to meet Mikkel Damsgaard\u2019s corner and Anthony was left with a simple task to head into an unguarded net just after the hour mark.<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s response was muted and as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser, Alonso\u2019s men were picked off on the counter-attack.<\/p>\n

Kevin Schade should have scored the second goal himself when played clean through on Emi Martinez.<\/p>\n

But even after the Argentine goalkeeper spread himself to save, the rebound fell kindly for Thiago to end his goal drought.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian netted 25 times last season, earning a shock call-up to Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s World Cup squad as a result.<\/p>\n

Thiago has looked shorn in the early weeks of the campaign and tore off his shirt in celebration after netting for the first time in the Premier League this season.<\/p>\n

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Mat Ryan left out of Socceroos squad | 01:28<\/p>\n

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Chelsea have conceded at least twice in all five league games under Alonso and there was further punishment to come in stoppage time.<\/p>\n

Schade\u2019s low cross was deflected into the path of Carvalho who fired high past Martinez to leave Brentford boss Keith Andrews yelling into the night sky in delight.<\/p>\n

Brentford, who also beat Tottenham 3-0 on the opening weekend of the season, sit behind only defending champions Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of the table.<\/p>\n

By contrast, Chelsea were handed another reminder of the gap Alonso must bridge to make them title contenders once more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brentford exposed Chelsea\u2019s defensive problems to inflict a damaging 3-0 defeat on Friday that gives Xabi Alonso plenty to ponder over a three-week international break. After a promising start to life under the former Real Madrid coach, Chelsea have picked up just one point from their last three league games. \ufeffGet all the latest football […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-263335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}