Enzo Maresca gambled with the European ambitions of Chelsea – and perhaps it can live to regret it.
The blues arrived in West Londs with the opportunity to further strengthen their chances of further strengthening Champions League football -their number one priority this period.
Victory on mid-table Brentford-de Only Prem Side without a home-clean magazine this campaign and Winless have made them four points of the sixth placed Aston Villa and within two of the third-placed Nottingham Forest in their last seven home outings.
So it was someone's gamble why Maresca decided this weekend to dance with the devil and to drop five starters from the first team. In this case the devil could laugh the last.
Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Marc Cucurella, Levi Colwill and Pedro Neto were all forced to watch from the couch, while Chelsea faltered at a time when they just can't afford it, gloomy gloomy for large parts against the bees and only gave a little better when Maresca had started in the first place.
Yes, Palmer and Jackson have just returned from muscular injuries after starting the 1-0 halfway through the week about Tottenham, but the risk was definitely worth taking?
This has the potential to be a final weekend for Chelsea, for all the wrong reasons that invite such as Villa, Manchester City and Newcastle to take full advantage.
Keane Lewis-Potter strolled early along the left and took Bryan Mbeumo at De Verre Paal, but his volley back over the goal was out of reach for Yoane Wissa.
Frank taunted Chelsea before the kick -off, which suggested that they were “under pressure”, and Brentford further raised the Ante by aggressively pining the men of Maresca.
Lewis-Potter was in the mood and ping a beauty behind for Kevin damage to haunting, causing Wissa to shoot static defenders in blue in a collection of static defenders.
The attacking presence of Chelsea did not exist. And when they came in promising positions, Christopher Nunku and Noni Madueke were alarmingly impressive to do nothing with it.
Nunku in particular was easily bullied by Brentford's Giants or people behind Back. Another wasted opportunity to run Maresca's head, possibly one for the Chelsea chopping block in the summer.
A lack of clear opportunities at both ends caused a boring atmosphere in the West London sun.
But you can always count on Robert Sanchez to bring some entertainment wherever he goes, as a comedy clown of a traveling circus that wears gloves.
First a trademark Pass directly to an opposition player of the Spaniard. He was by the hand to clean up his mess and to deny Mikkel Damsgaard after the smart pass of Wissa.
And then, under no way, a stationary Sanchez decided to let a ball slip through his hands and almost on the boot of Bryan Mbeumo.
Maresca did not enjoy the flirting of his keeper with danger, nor was the Italian coach enthusiastic about a matte version that gradually got worse.
Jadon Sancho made a rare eruption only to look up and discover that nobody had joined him. The weak defense of Reece James then allowed Mbeumo to cut and just drag one.
If you don't laugh, you cry. That was the view that the fans of Away held on, sarcastic singing sarcastically: “We had a shot” while Madueke shot directly on Mark Flekken.
'Boring, boring Chelsea' was the reaction of the home support when Sanchez a Nathan Collins heade Palde.
Maresca had and should have throw all his game changers during the break. Instead, he chose just one to start with. Nunku went away to Jackson.
There was an immediate impact. The Senegalese striker connected well and then tested his recently restored hamstring with long pants to defeat the beebackline, just to omit Flekken with a betrayed effort.
Momentum, finally. Another Chelsea positive had Sepp van den Berg sweating while his Dodgy cleaned up Cross of the chest of Flekken and bounced a corner from.
Thirteen minutes in the second half, two more Big-Hitters entered the fight and combined immediately. Palmer to Jackson, Jackson to Neto and a shot from a distance refused by an acrobatic Flekken dive.
An encouraging introduction, but also a worrying memory of how much this Chelsea team trusts a few spectacular individuals.
The beekeeper was finally kept busy and pulled another air stop from a cracking James header.
An end-to-end match threatened to fill in life, because Brentford brought the best chance of the game in the 79th minute with a stunning counterattack from a Chelsea corner.
It was embarrassingly easy for Mbeumo to bring the ball down, check and then walk up about 50 meters before he played a neat one-two with Wissa.
The resulting shot was full of bubbling and power, firmly met by a strong Sanchez judge.
For all the improvement of Chelsea, they could have gone twice in a row in the next two minutes, Van den Berg on their way to the ground and a few meters on their way to the ground.
Wissa's Flicked Header seconds later was more forgiven, but still had Sanchez Klauteren.
With the remaining seconds, Palmer curled wide and swung to the floor as the full -time whistle went.
Let's hope this is not the start of a creepy end of the Chelsea season.
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