A crisp autumnal night draws in as the minutes slowly tick down at the Brentford Community Stadium. The ball is being launched, crossed, thrown into our box, again and again. Aerial duel after aerial duel, block after block, save after save. Have Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea ever been more under the cosh than in the closing stages of our first visit to the Bees’ new stadium? Perhaps not.

In the thick of it all, throwing his body on the line, doing his best to repel the danger, is a 22-year-old playing his first game in England’s top flight. Welcome to the Premier League, Malang Sarr.

‘That game against Brentford was the point where I started,’ recalls the Frenchman, six months and 16 more Chelsea appearances later.

‘That team performance and my personal performance in this game was so important thing for me because it helped me to grow as a player in the squad, and it gave me confidence. It was the best start for me. Since then I’ve just tried to keep improving and play well, and I’m really happy with how things have gone at Chelsea this season.

‘That Brentford game was a typical Premier League game, really intense and physical,’ adds Malang.

‘There were lots of headers, fights for the ball. It was the first one for me and afterwards I said to myself ‘this is the Premier League!’. I knew I just had to carry on and be ready for this type of game because it would happen a lot.’

Sarr has proven an exceptionally useful squad member this season. He has played throughout all but one of our domestic cup games so far, started against the likes of Man City and Tottenham in the league, and came on for the decisive extra-time period in the Club World Cup final.

All that game time points to Tuchel’s faith in the young defender, who has also showcased his versality by proving as adept in a back three as in the back four increasingly favoured by the boss this calendar year.

‘I feel like I have the trust of the manager and I am really grateful and really happy for that,’ enthuses Sarr.

‘At the beginning of the season I was supposed to go on loan and have another season to work on my craft. In the end I was here and able to be a part of the squad, and the manager has shown me his trust. I work hard every day, and I can see I am being rewarded for that. It’s a really good feeling.

‘I know I can help in different positions, I know left-back is not my natural position but I try to bring the energy and play 100 per cent. For a player it’s good, and as a manager I think it’s good to have a player who you can count on whether he is playing in his position or not. Wherever the manager needs me to play, I will do it.’

Off the pitch, Sarr has settled, too. When his future was uncertain back in the summer, he lived in a hotel, but has now bought his own flat near Stamford Bridge, regularly welcoming his family over from the south of France, where he grew up.

He has also formed plenty of close bonds in the dressing room, not least with the younger members of the squad and the French speakers. ‘It’s gone as well as I could have expected, so I’m really happy,’ he smiles.

Today’s game against Brentford marks the beginning of the end of Sarr’s first season at Chelsea. Big league clashes, quarter-finals, semi-finals and hopefully more knockout ties await in the weeks ahead, with Sarr stressing it is this time of year when the Blues’ ‘winning mentality’ could prove the difference. ‘Everybody is bringing the energy and trying to focus on our task.’

In the short term, the Bees visit Stamford Bridge in a league game for the first time since 1946. For Sarr, it brings his own Premier League journey full circle, and he knows what to expect.

‘This game will be tough. We played them in the cup as well and it was pretty difficult. In the second game we found the solution late in the game, and it’s probably going to be the same thing. We are going to have to fight. Even if they are not in the best position in the league, they are really tough to play.

‘It’s going to be a special game because not all our players have had much time to prepare, but everyone knows how tough and difficult it will be. We have just tried to build in the week and prepare for the game properly.’