Sub Cole Palmer fails to inspire Chelsea as they draw a blank at Brentford | OneFootball

Cole Palmer was left on the bench for almost an hour as Chelsea’s winless run on the road continued with a goalless draw at Brentford.

Blues boss Enzo Maresca raised eyebrows by leaving the England forward out of his starting line-up despite his side battling for a Champions League place.

They do have a Conference League quarter-final trip to Legia Warsaw on Thursday, but Maresca’s priorities seemed a little skewed following a pretty insipid stalemate.

When Palmer was eventually introduced he was unable to help break the deadlock, firing his only opportunity over the crossbar, in what was probably the most predictable draw of the season.

With Brentford having forgotten how to win at home and Chelsea winless away in the league since December, surely something had to give at the Gtech Stadium? Unfortunately, nothing did.

Brentford, as usual, were in the faces of Chelsea from the the first whistle, with Bryan Mbeumo and Kevin Schade perpetually getting in behind Blues full-backs Reece James and Malo Gusto.

Amid the organised havoc wreaked by Thomas Frank’s side, Yoane Wissa had two early chances, hooking the first into the side-netting from Mbeumo’s cross before seeing a shot blocked by Trevoh Chalobah.

Gusto was booked after hauling down Schade on the edge of the area, with Mikkel Damsgaard curling the free-kick narrowly over.

Damsgaard was then denied by Robert Sanchez as he burst through, before the Chelsea keeper made a flying save to keep out Nathan Collins’ header.

Chelsea’s solitary effort on target in a one-sided first half was a Noni Madueke drive straight into the arms of Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

Maresca did make a change at the break but it was Nicolas Jackson, rather than Palmer, who came on in place of Christopher Nkunku.

Jackson offered more in his first three minutes on the pitch than Nkunku had in the previous 45, but after latching on to Enzo Fernandez’s ball over the top his shot flew wide.

Palmer was summoned in the 59th minute, along with Pedro Neto, and the pair immediately linked up with Flekken forced to tip away the Portuguese winger’s drive.

Flekken pulled off an even better save moments later, clawing a James header out from under his crossbar from a Neto corner.

Brentford got a head of steam up inside the final 10 minutes, with Mbeumo playing a one-two with Wissa before firing too close to Sanchez.

From the corner, Bees defender Sepp van den Berg somehow planted a header downwards into the ground and up over the crossbar, and Wissa glanced another header just wide with Sanchez scrambling.

In stoppage time the stage was set for Palmer, but he lifted a shot from the edge of the area over with the last kick of the match.