Chelsea 0 Brentford 2
Chelsea suffered their fifth consecutive defeat under interim manager Lampard, as the Blues were beaten 2-0 by Brentford. Remarkably, Chelsea have now lost four London derbies in a Premier League season for the first time since 2001/02.
A bizarre atmosphere befell the usually raucous Stamford Bridge, as the Blues looked to put points on the board in a bid to avoid a first bottom-half finish since 1996.
With empty seats galore, there was a nervous tension in the air and it was certainly translating onto the Chelsea players, who were struggling to string passes together, let alone create a goalscoring threat.
Precious little quality was on display in a dreary first half in West London, with a Bees outfit that were winless in six games themselves also struggling to find their rhythm. With neither side able to carve out a decent opportunity, a slice of luck handed the visitors the lead as the interval approached.
A dangerous corner was whipped into a loaded 18-yard box, and Cesar Azpilicueta inadvertently deflected the ball into his own net to silence an already muted home crowd.
The introductions of Mykhailo Mudryk and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brought about a change in system for the hosts at the break, and there was certainly a greater intent to their play, although an end product was still lacking.
Aubameyang and Silva both saw headers come close to breaching the Bees’ rearguard, but David Raya remained largely unchallenged despite Chelsea’s absolute dominance of possession.
Wasted chances would come back to haunt the hosts, who were punished on the break in devastating fashion by Bryan Mbeumo.
Cutting in from the right past a hapless Wesley Fofana, Mbeumo rifled a deflected effort past Kepa Arrizabalaga to secure the Bees’ first win since mid-March.
Thomas Frank’s men leapfrog Fulham to take the lead in the West London mini-league unfolding in the middle of the table, while condemning Chelsea to a sixth consecutive league outing without a victory.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ben Mee (Brentford)
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Nottingham Forest 3 Brighton & Hove Albion 1
Nottingham Forest took a big step towards Premier League survival, beating Brighton 3-1 at the City Ground with a magnificent turnaround. In turn, Steve Cooper’s men moved out of the danger zone by one point, with just five games remaining.
Forest blitzed their south coast visitors in the early exchanges, and were rewarded for their efforts when Neco Williams was taken down in the box, forcing referee Jarred Gillett to award the hosts a penalty inside 10 minutes.
Brennan Johnson stepped up to the spot, but the Forest talisman saw his shot saved in style by Jason Steele, who threw himself to his right and parried away the spot kick to spare Brighton’s blushes.
Brighton grew into the game after the early wake up call, and after seeing a number of their own shots go begging, the Seagulls snatched a deserved lead in the 38th minute, as Facundo Buonanotte tapped home a rebounded Solly March shot from close range.
Somehow though, Brighton saw their lead disappear with the last kick of the half, as Renan Lodi’s cross from the edge of the box took a massive deflection off of Pascal Gross and in past Steele to restore parity.
After a nervy restart, the City Ground was brought to its feet once again with just over 20 minutes remaining, as Danilo raced down the right-wing, before slotting home Forest’s second of the night to snatch a vital lead.
Brighton mustered a flurry of half-chances in the dying embers of the match, but under the weight of 30,000 voices, they gave away a VAR-awarded penalty for handball a minute from the 90.
Morgan Gibbs-White delivered the coup de grace, rolling the ball low into the right corner as Jason Steele guessed wrong.
Ten minutes of added time were allotted, but Brighton were all out of ideas as the City Ground went into full carnival mode.
For Brighton, this disappointing defeat keeps their push for Europe hanging in the balance, while Forest will feel more confident than ever of enjoying a first successful Premier League survival campaign since 1995/96.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)
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West Ham 1 Liverpool 2
Liverpool came from behind to beat West Ham United 2-1 in the Premier League, recording the 11th victory from their last 14 meetings against the East London club.
The Hammers had undoubtedly enjoyed their week before facing the Reds, booking their place in the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final, convincingly beating Bournemouth, then seeing their U18s win the FA Youth Cup.
Lucas Paqueta has embodied the recent joy felt at London Stadium and inspired jubilant celebrations once again 12 minutes in.
After some beautiful link-up play with Michail Antonio, the Brazilian smashed a strike past Alisson Becker for his third goal in as many games, having scored just twice before that all season.
However, Liverpool almost immediately struck back with the quality that had brought them nine goals in their previous two matches.
Trent Alexander-Arnold found Cody Gakpo in a pocket of space, where the Dutchman turned and arrowed his shot in off the inside of the post.
The game’s captivating intensity continued, although both attacks were left frustrated before the break. Diogo Jota sent an instinctive attempt and header off target, before Antonio was denied a certain goal by Virgil van Dijk and the striker flicked his header from the ensuing corner agonisingly wide.
There was no slowing down after the restart, and when Paqueta slipped through Jarrod Bowen, the winger cut inside Van Dijk before firing into the bottom corner but ultimately seeing his goal ruled out for an offside call.
Moments after also being left in disbelief when seeing two efforts in quick succession denied, Joel Matip marked just his second start in Liverpool’s last 10 matches by powering his header from Andrew Roberton’s corner past Lukasz Fabianski for his first goal since September.
While West Ham responded well in search of an equaliser, Tomas Soucek couldn’t quite keep his header down as Liverpool secured a third consecutive win for the first time since November, drawing level on points with Tottenham Hotspur ahead of their match against Manchester United.
The Reds also inflicted just the second defeat West Ham have suffered in their last 11 matches, leaving the Hammers five points above the relegation zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
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