'Bullied' and 'out of control' - Chelsea's defensive issues laid bare

Chelsea well beaten 3-0 by Brentford after dismal second half in the west London derby; Xabi Alonso's side continue to fail to keep clean sheets, concede from set-pieces and lack 'competitive mentality' when they fall behind; Chelsea now winless in three league games after a good start

"You need to feel it. We're not feeling it," said Xabi Alonso after Chelsea's 3-0 loss at Brentford. Yet Chelsea are stuck in a familiar feeling.

Another defeat, their 11th of the calendar year - more than they had in 2025, with three months of this year to go. At least two goals conceded for the fifth straight Premier League game under Alonso. More set-piece woe.

"We dropped our consistency, our competitive mentality needed in the second half," said Alonso. That will concern Chelsea fans the most. It was way too easy for Brentford to take over that second half.

And there's another continuing trend: Chelsea being outbattled in a match. Remember, they were outrun in the vast majority of their Premier League matches last season.

The first thing you think about when you come up against Brentford is set pieces. Long throws, smart corners - the lot. And just like against Hull in their previous game, Chelsea lost control of the match by conceding once again from a set-piece.

This was the fourth goal they have conceded from a set-piece in five Premier League games - taking their overall tally since the start of last season to 23, the joint-worst out of any Premier League side.

Once again, the ball was put right on top of Emiliano Martinez towards the back post and neither the goalkeeper nor the outfield players were able to react. And the worst part of it for Chelsea? Brentford saw it coming a mile off.

"We did target [the back post] at half-time," said Vitaly Janelt to Sky Sports. "There was a big gap at the far post. We targeted that and I think it was our first corner of the second half."

And Chelsea are suffering from all these set-piece woes despite now having the best dead-ball coach in the league in Austin MacPhee. Bernardo Cueva, who was their set-piece coach before MacPhee and now has a different role at the club, was even pinched from Brentford by the Blues.

"We have not been good enough, at times we have been bullied and we need to improve at that," said Levi Colwill to Sky.

"But we trust in our set-piece coach; we are still adjusting to new things, but we do need to improve as a team."

It is not the only area where Chelsea need to improve defensively. The way they allow teams to penetrate their defensive third is among the worst in the division - they have gone 22 straight Premier League games without a clean sheet.

On average, Chelsea concede 2.2 non-penalty goals per game. And they deserve to, because the xG numbers say they are expected to allow that same number of shots on target on their goal.