Chelsea fans send warning to Arsenal and Liverpool with song as angry Marc Cucurella sums up intensity and faith

Marc Cucurella will do anything to win the ball, even anything to win the game, and he did it through fair means and fouls here at Stamford Bridge against Brentford.

He was the man of the match. and sent. He was a scorer and goal avoider. When you have players as committed to defeating the opponent as Cucurella then Chelsea must be considered in the first division title race, especially as their A team benefits from the break in Europe.

“We've got our Chelsea back,” chanted Chelsea fans as Liverpool and Arsenal fans watched from afar. It's still early days, but they've certainly regained some of that old winning mentality.

Only recklessness would compare them to the excellent Chelsea teams of yesteryear, but there was a togetherness that echoed some of the most successful teams at the Bridge.

There was a will to win that defined those teams and that was embodied by Cucurella, Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo and Levi Colwill. The fans here have been singing about getting their Chelsea back for a couple of weeks, but their chorus had more intensity and faith.

Cucurella could win awards for the most effective, most determined, most athletic and most annoying player of the weekend. His heat map looked like a line of fire along the left.

The 26-year-old was everywhere on that flank, running back and forth, even scoring Chelsea's first. With three minutes left, Cucurella even launched himself into the air to advance the ball to Bryan Mbeumo in midfield. He also did his best to run out the timer during the added seven minutes.

He fouled Fabio Carvalho to avoid an attack and eat up a few seconds. He made two vital clearances and then, very deliberately and cynically, was left down after a harmless tackle from Sepp van den Berg. As 3,000 Brentford fans booed, the sullen Blue stood up, bravely recovered and watched out the final seconds. Understandably, his celebrations were quite wild at the final whistle, but then childish when he argued with Schade and received a second yellow card. He is now suspended by Everton.

They will miss him. Their mentality, while at times unfunny, is why Chelsea should be considered title contenders, even if everyone here publicly says they are still evolving, and given them another season before they are considered genuine contenders. Nonsense. If Arsenal are rightly considered to still be in the draw, then Chelsea must be too, and Chelsea have a centre-forward.

Nicolas Jackson and company are four points behind Arsenal and just two points behind the leader LiverpoolThey have a game on their hands. Chelsea have quality in reserve and can bring in the prolific Christopher Nkunku in place of Jackson. Pedro Neto was suspended but Noni Madueke stepped up and, after a slow start, was an influence.

Rumors about the Bridge are back. Chelsea fans love the maturity and threat of their football.

Chelsea were patient to break down Brentford, who were 5-4-1 out of possession, occasionally down to a back six with Christian Norgaard dropping into the backline. Chelsea remained calm and sought to stretch the visitors.

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The wingers of Enzo Maresca, Jadon Sancho and gradually Madueke, provided some width, but in reality it was their full-backs who caused Brentford the most problems.

Maresca's tactics place enormous demands on his full-backs, both in defense and attack. Immediately, they pushed up, Malo Gusto, from the right side, launched a cross that Jackson headed wide with Cucurella close by looking for debris.

All the talk was that the Premier League's two top scorers might share a goal-fest, but the defenses impressed. Ethan Pinnock shone again for Brentford, who held on well for 42 minutes. But here was another reason why there should be confidence in the Bridge for a sustained involvement in the title race.

Colwill went on to confirm how important and improving the centre-back is for Chelsea. He saw danger, calmly stood in front of Mbuemo to intercept and launched into a block to deny Mikkel Damsgaard. Tosin Adarabioyo repelled a running attack from Yoane Wissa and then jumped to meet a special long throw from Pinnock.

Chelsea deserved the lead, created by Madueke's cross from the right and finished off by Cucurella, who simply wanted to get to the ball more than Mads Roerslev. And then Chelsea's defense caught attention again.

Robert Sánchez has been seen as a weak link, but here he controlled his area well, catching Mbuemo's free kick. He varied his distribution well, confusing Brentford. He lofted a long ball through the middle to Jackson, then played the next short ball to Cucurella, earning the nod from Maresca. Sánchez tipped over Damsgaard's volley and was then relieved when Carvalho's shot hit the crossbar.

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Chelsea played fast and loose, absorbing Brentford's combinations and then attacking on the counter-attack. Jackson ran 60 yards down the right inside channel, ignoring the option to Cole Palmer on the left, before sliding the ball between Mark Flekken and his post.

There were some nerves when Schade sent in Mbeumo and he perfectly placed his shot under Sanchez. But Cucurella simply closed the game.