Brentford blitz Chelsea as Fábio Carvalho caps stunning second-half display

Early in the season, some people thought Chelsea might be the team best placed to challenge Arsenal. That idea now looks too hopeful. Chelsea's first two wins were messy, and it was hard to know what they meant. They could have been useful points earned while the team built a stronger system, or they could have shown serious problems. After three games without a win, and after conceding 12 goals in five games this season, it now looks more like the second explanation.

When the final whistle blew, Keith Andrews leaned his head back and shouted with joy. He was celebrating Brentford's first home win over Chelsea since 1938. Brentford are still unbeaten, and they play in an organized and disciplined way. They moved up to third in the table. It is hard not to compare the two teams. One side is struggling despite spending a lot of money in an unclear way. Their much poorer neighbors are doing well because they have a clear plan and direction. "It was a performance I felt was bubbling," said Andrews. "I could see it in the players’ eyes over the last two days. They were very focused, very determined."

Related: Brentford v Chelsea: Premier League – live

Chelsea is always changing so much that the usual advice about the value of stability seems pointless when talking about them. This summer they signed 11 new players, which shows the club still works like a trading hub. Because of this, learning everyone's name in the dressing room has probably mattered more to the players than worrying about disputes in the boardroom. Still, their first game since Todd Boehly and Mark Walter agreed to sell their 12.8% stake in the club to the main shareholder, Clearlake Capital, felt important. At the very least, a calmer boardroom should help the club.

Boehly, the big disruptor, arrived confidently telling English football it was doing everything wrong. He has now left after achieving very little. He spent £300m on players who didn't fit in, and he gave Raheem Sterling a £325,000-a-week contract during his messy time acting as de facto sporting director. Four years later, after 60 new signings, it's hard to say if Chelsea look any more like title challengers than they did back then. In truth, it was very hard to say what this team looked like, other than a side that is still very much under construction. Jordan Henderson made his full Chelsea debut at his former club, while Danny Welbeck, Pep Chavarría and Valentín Barco made their first league starts.

Barco, whose overenthusiastic celebrations after Argentina’s winner against England at the World Cup earned him a post-match slap from Jude Bellingham, was booed with impressive consistency from the home fans. The lesson was clear: if you’re going to be a major irritant while in possession of a distinctive shock of hair the colour of burnished copper, there will be consequences. Emí Martínez was jeered as well for the crime of being Argentinian. Henderson, by contrast, was treated relatively gently, his booing as a returnee more sporadic and muted, tending to the perfunctory.

The pattern for Chelsea was a familiar one: a fast start, fading to something a little scratchier. The opening, for the second successive game, did not produce an early goal, although Pedro Neto would have given them a ninth-minute lead had it not been for a sharp save from Caoimhín Kelleher.

“We have dropped our consistency, our competitive mentality in the second half,” said Xabi Alonso. “We have not been able to keep our level. When you lose shape you are out of control. To be able to understand and know what it takes to be competing to the end, it’s a process and it takes time.”

The longer the game went on, the less assured Chelsea looked and a Brentford opener arrived just after the hour. Perhaps inevitably, it came from a dead ball; the stats had suggested that Brentford this season had been creating significantly more chances from set plays than they had converted. As modern corner routines go it seemed very straightforward, Jannik Schuster climbing above the diminutive Barco to head Mikkel Damsgaard’s corner back across goal, where Jaidon Anthony nodded in from close range, his first goal since his summer move from Burnley.

Chelsea eventually started to push forward, but even though most of the final minutes were played in Brentford's half, they created little apart from corners. Brentford stayed calm and organized throughout.

The second goal arrived seven minutes from time. Damsgaard, perhaps the tidiest player in the league, led the break, playing in Kevin Schade. Martínez saved his side-footed effort but Igor Thiago guided an awkwardly bouncing ball inside the post for his first goal of the season. Fábio Carvalho made it 3-0 in added time, slamming in a cross from Schade, who had been left inexplicably unmarked on the left after a long throw was half-cleared.

As Brentford start to see European qualification as a real possibility, Chelsea remain what they have been since the takeover happened: a team still being built. This is especially true in defense, where there is still a long way to go.