Edouard Mendy denies Brentford a late equaliser as Chelsea earn a slim victory at the Brentford Community Stadium

Edouard Mendy produced a Man of the Match performance and came to Chelsea’s rescue on several occasions as the Blues beat West London rivals Brentford 1-0 at the Brentford Community Stadium.

Mendy produced a string of outstanding saves in the second half to protect all three points for Chelsea after Ben Chilwell gave the Blues the lead on the brink of half-time.

The Senegalese goalkeeper made six saves in the match and proved to be the calming figure in an otherwise inexperienced Chelsea backline.

The 29-year-old goalkeeper put his body on the line for his team and even took a shaking blow to the face in order to block Pontus Jansson’s close-range volley.

Another clean sheet adds to the growing tally for Mendy who now has 30 in 54 appearances for the Blues.

However, despite his heroics in the past year and a Champions League goalkeeper of the season award, Mendy was not named in FIFA’s 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or.

Critics have questioned whether Mendy is truly world-class due to his late rise to the top. With the doubters claiming that Chelsea’s setup protects the potential susceptibilities in the 29-year-old’s game.

However, Mendy went some way to swatting away those questions with crucial saves in the final 20 minutes against Ivan Toney, Sam Ghoddos as well as denying Christian Norgaard’s incredible bicycle kick.

It is often a common phrase in football that a world-class shot-stopper will win you 12-15 points per season and in this game alone the 29-year-old goalkeeper won his side all three.

The performance was reminiscent of David de Gea’s sensational performance against Arsenal in 2017 where the ball seemed destined to find the back of the net on numerous occasions. Although Mendy did not make the same amount of saves as the Spaniard had to four years ago, the Chelsea goalkeeper produced stops from positions it looked almost impossible to miss.

David de Gea was considered the best in the world at the time and with the recent performances from Mendy, it would be hard to argue the same for him, based on form.

Chelsea players and staff hail their hero

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Following the final whistle, the Blues’ players and staff were quick to acknowledge the heroics of Mendy.

Goalscorer Chilwell refused to take the plaudits for scoring the winner and instead heaped praise on his goalkeeper.

“I think we have to thank Mendy, there were a lot of very important saves and he does it every week for us. He bails us out, whether it’s once or twice, or in this game on several occasions. He’s a world-class goalkeeper and is the one we’ve got to thank.

“It just gives you confidence when you know you’ve got someone like that behind you that comes to collect the ball from crosses, is a brilliant shot-stopper and good with his feet.

“We see it every day in training but now he’s getting the credit he deserves and in these sorts of games where he makes big saves, he gets us the three points in the end.”

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel suggested the Ballon d’Or nomination snub means nothing as the team benefits from Mendy’s quality regardless.

“It is more important that he performs like this than making it on any list. That’s how football works.”

“It should not, I hope it does not, bother him because it does not bother me too much and it seems like he is not influenced by that which is a good thing.

“Today we relied heavily on him again. He is the guy he is and everybody is so happy for him that he can help us. So everything is good.”

Regardless of whether Mendy was nominated for the Ballon d’Or or not, it cannot be argued that the Senegalese shot-stopper is crucial to the Blues.

Chelsea required a goalkeeper who could put their defensive issues to rest, the 29-year-old has done just that and brought confidence to the rest of the team along with it. As a result, the Blues became the Champions of Europe and now sit at the top of the Premier League table as they look to win more silverware.

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