Ben Chilwell gave an honest assessment of Chelsea’s draw with Brentford on Saturday afternoon, accepting that either side could have gone on to win the game and feeling frustrated that we only took one rather than three points back across the Thames.
The Blues came from behind to leave the Gtech Community Stadium with a share of the spoils, in a game that could have gone either way.
Chelsea opened the scoring in the first half thanks to a fine Nicolas Jackson header, but shortly after the break the hosts were ahead courtesy of a Mads Roerslev strike and via a scissor-kick from Yoane Wissa.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side did push in search of an equaliser and it eventually arrived with seven minutes remaining, as Axel Disasi powered home a header at the back post to ensure the points were shared – something that vice-captain Chilwell felt was fair.
‘We could have won the game but overall, I think a draw was probably a fair result in the end if I’m being totally honest,’ said Chilwell after the game.
‘It was a topsy-turvy game and first half, I thought we played really well. Obviously we got the goal, got into a lot of good positions and really neutralised their threats. They were trying to be physical as possible but we coped with that well.
‘In the second half, they really came at us and threw themselves onto us. We didn’t deal with that well enough and they got the two goals to go in front.
‘We got back on level terms and came away with a result but I think we could have contained them better in the second half. We had chances to go on and win but like I said earlier, I think a draw was probably fair.'
The Chelsea left-back acknowledged that we could have gone on to win the game but also accepted that Thomas Frank’s side could have similar arguments at full-time. Therefore, he feels it’s important to focus on the positives and look ahead to our next game – a home clash with Newcastle a week on Monday.
‘We always want to win but sometimes you have games like this one where it just doesn't quite fall for you,’ added Ben.
‘I think at times like this, you have to look at the positives. We created a lot of chances and on another day, we put them away and take all three points.
‘We showed good character to come from behind and get something and sometimes it’s too easy to look at the negatives and not focus and build on the positives.’