Most of the goalmouth action arrived during an entertaining second half. Brentford keeper Mark Flekken saved well from Pedro Neto, Reece James, and his team-mate Sepp van den Berg, while Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer also went close for us.

The Bees carried a threat of their own throughout, though. Yoane Wissa had struck the woodwork early on and Mikkel Damsgaard fluffed his lines in front of goal. After the interval, Robert Sanchez superbly denied Bryan Mbuemo, before Van Den Berg missed a golden headed opportunity from point-blank range.

Palmer curled a whisker over with the last kick of the game so we settled for a point, ending our losing streak on the road in the league. Perhaps fittingly, it finished all square between a team that hasn’t won at home since 7 December, and one that hasn’t tasted success on the road since the following day, when we beat Tottenham.

The Blues are off to Poland to play Legia Warsaw next.

Team news

Enzo Maresca changed half of his outfielders that started the win over Tottenham. The head coach had the short turnaround between fixtures in mind, and the fact several players are only recently back from injury.

Two of those, Jackson and Palmer, dropped to the bench. Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke replaced them in attack, Madueke making his first start since 14 February.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall came into central midfield alongside Moises Caicedo and Fernandez. At the back, Tosin Adarabioyo and James returned, with Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella making way. The skipper lined up at left-back.

In glorious west London sunshine, this local affair began with the Blues in the ascendency. A wonderful whipped James free-kick from the right skipped across the six-yard box and was met at the far post by Nkunku, who couldn’t steer the bouncing ball on target.

In the balance

Brentford responded with a dangerous cross of their own to the far post. This one was volleyed by Mbuemo towards Brentford’s other star attacker, Wissa. His left-footed strike skimmed the outside of the post. Not even three minutes had been played.

That early flurry of activity gave way to a cagier contest. We had plenty of the ball, but found a Brentford team solid out of possession and happy to play on the break.

Midway through the half, Malo Gusto was cautioned for tugging Kevin Schade to the ground off the ball. Damsgaard curled the resulting free-kick over, and then almost immediately had a much better chance latching on to a Wissa pass. Thankfully, he missed his kick at the vital moment.

Brentford were on top now. Mbuemo capitalised on a fortunate rebound, cut inside and fired his shot wide of the near post. After Madueke had recorded our first shot on target of the game, Sanchez did well to claw Keane Lewis-Potter’s header to safety.

Dewsbury-Hall created our best attack in some time with an incisive pass through to Jadon Sancho, whose low delivery wasn’t far off being turned into his own net by Nathan Collins.

The half concluded as it had begun, with a James free-kick picking out a man in blue. Tosin couldn’t steer his header on target.

Jackson replaced Nkunku for the second half and immediately posed a threat in behind, racing on to a fine Fernandez pass and shooting just wide.

Invigorated Blues

Chelsea kept the pressure up. Jackson and Fernandez exchanged passes and Van den Berg could only divert the ball towards his own goal. Flekken saved with his chest. From the resulting corner, Trevoh Chalobah headed wide.

On the hour, Maresca brought Pedro Neto and Palmer on for Madueke and Dewsbury-Hall. The fresh faces were straight into the thick of the action, Palmer teeing up Neto 20 yards out. His bending effort was pushed away by Flekken at full stretch.

The Brentford keeper, who has made more saves than any stopper in Europe’s top five leagues this season, then kept out a powerful James header. Palmer curled wide on his right. We had been much more positive since the restart.

With just over 20 minutes remaining, Palmer and Neto had shots blocked inside the box. Brentford countered, and Sanchez did well to read Wissa trying to beat him at his near post and claw the ball away. The offside flag was then raised. It looked tight.

Strong Sanchez

From a Chelsea corner, Mbuemo benefitted from a slice of fortune to lead a breakaway. Entering our defensive third, the Cameroonian exchanged passes with Wissa and fired goalwards. Sanchez stuck out a strong right hand to tip it wide.

When the next delivery arrived from Lewis-Potter, an unmarked Van Den Berg inexplicably missed the target with the chance of the game. Wissa then headed just wide. We could count ourselves fortunate not to have fallen behind.

Into the final minute of normal time and Fernandez spun and dragged his shot wide. We went even closer with the last kick, Palmer agonisingly close to winning it in style.

What it means...

Ahead of the Manchester derby and Newcastle's game at Leicester on Monday, Chelsea remain in fourth. We are now four points behind Nottingham Forest in third.

What's next...

The Blues fly to Poland on Wednesday ahead of our UEFA Conference League quarter-final first leg against Legia Warsaw. It's then a home league fixture against Ipswich Town on Sunday.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Sanchez; Gusto, Tosin, Chalobah, James (c) (Cucurella 77); Fernandez, Caicedo, Dewsbury-Hall (Palmer 59); Madueke (Neto 59), Nkunku (Jackson h/t), Sancho

Chelsea substitutes: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Badiashile, Colwill, George

Booked: Gusto 26, Tosin 45, Fernandez 87

Brentford (4-3-3): Flekken; Ajer (Kayode 83), Van Den Berg, Collins, Lewis-Potter; Yarmoliuk (Janelt 66), Norgaard (c), Damsgaard (Jensen 83); Mbuemo, Wissa, Schade

Brentford substitutes: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Mee, Konak, Maghoma

Booked Van Den Berg 77

Referee: Michael Oliver

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