Chelsea maintain unbeaten run under Graham Potter with draw at Brentford

Chelsea maintained their unbeaten run under Graham Potter but had to settle for a point after a goalless derby draw at Brentford.

The Blues made the short trip across west London on the back of five successive victories in all competitions, winning each of the last four without conceding.

Once again they kept a clean sheet, but there was a distinct lack of cutting edge up front as they drew a blank against the Bees.

There was also another injury scare for England boss Gareth Southgate after midfielder Conor Gallagher limped off early on.

Blues boss Potter had made five changes from the side which beat Aston Villa 2-0, with Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang dropping to the bench, but he had to make another switch when Gallagher trudged off.

Moments earlier Ivan Toney, another England World Cup hopeful, had a header from Mads Roerslev’s cross tipped over the crossbar by Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Chelsea had a let-off with 10 minutes of the first half remaining when Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s back-header from a free-kick inadvertently let Toney in.

The striker got to the ball before Kepa but was unable to direct his header on target.

The closest Chelsea came to scoring in a low-key half was an angled drive from Cesar Azpilicueta which Bees keeper David Raya tipped around the far post.

The Blues wanted a penalty for a Rico Henry handball, and another when Kai Havertz tumbled under pressure from Ben Mee, but they got neither.

Brentford should have taken the lead five minutes into the second half when Bryan Mbeumo had a free header in front of goal, five yards out, from another Roerslev cross, but the Cameroon forward planted his header straight at Kepa.

It ends all square.@WhaleFinApp | #BreChe pic.twitter.com/1xupHMlzXe

From