Eriksen on the mark as Chelsea crumble against Brentford

Vitaly Janelt's quickfire double put Brentford on the brink of Premier League safety after their 4-1 rout of a Chelsea side beset by unrelenting takeover talk.

Christian Eriksen also netted in a win that puts Thomas Frank’s Brentford on the verge of cementing their top-flight status following a hugely impressive debut campaign.

Toni Rudiger hammered home a long-range strike to stun Stamford Bridge and hand Chelsea a 1-0 lead just after half-time.

But Brentford punished Chelsea’s out-of-character defensive disarray three times in six minutes to seal a memorable win for the Bees.

And by the time Yoane Wissa drilled home a fourth at the death, the travelling Brentford fans were in dreamland.

Chelsea’s fine run of six wins on the spin in all competitions came to a crashing halt in West London, with the Blues now perhaps looking over their shoulders in the league.

Fourth-placed Arsenal could cut their deficit on third-placed Chelsea to two points with a win at Crystal Palace on Monday.

Chelsea had shut out all the takeover noise to fine effect with those six wins in a row, but now boss Thomas Tuchel will need all his powers of man-management to set the Blues back on track.

Chelsea's fans had started the day promising a protest against prospective new owners the Ricketts family.

But perhaps only 100 supporters took to the streets around Stamford Bridge before kick-off, and plans to unveil a banner in the ground never materialised.

Roman Abramovich will sell the club after 19 years as owner, with four consortiums locked in a bidding battle.

Boss Tuchel had kept his players’ minds off those boardroom wrangles so impressively in a flawless March schedule.

But after the international break a refreshed Brentford executed a classic