Brentford were narrowly beaten 2-1 by west London neighbours Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday evening.

Goals from Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson in either half secured the win for the hosts, despite Bryan Mbeumo's late strike at Stamford Bridge.

Brentford made two changes from the 4-2 win over Newcastle United last weekend, as Mads Roerslev and Mikkel Damsgaard replaced Fábio Carvalho and Igor Thiago, with Thomas Frank switching to a 3-5-2.

Jackson had the opening two chances of the game inside 10 minutes at Stamford Bridge. The first of those came as Malo Gusto whipped a dangerous cross into the penalty area and the Chelsea striker, centre of the goal and just outside the six-yard box, headed over.

Jackson's second effort came after Moisés Caicedo lifted a ball over the top of the Bees defence, which the forward latched onto with a powerful half-volley, but keeper Mark Flekken did well to beat away from his near post.

Flekken was tested again moments later when Cole Palmer took aim from the edge of the area but, again, the Brentford man parried the ball away.

Enzo Fernández was next to try his luck after Noni Madueke slipped him into the box, but his shot from a tight angle was turned around the post by the feet of Flekken.

Brentford had their first chance of the game just before the half-hour mark. Mbeumo, attacking down the right, found the overlapping run of Roerslev; a low cross from the Dane found his compatriot Damsgaard, but a great block from Levi Colwill prevented back-to-back away goals for the midfielder.

With half-time closing in, a sloppy pass out from the back was picked up by Madueke, who drove at the Brentford defence. He travelled into the penalty area, but his shot towards the far post was saved by the outstretched leg of Flekken.

Chelsea's pressure eventually told just before the break, as Madueke's inswinging cross was met by Cucurella, who charged into the box and planted a header into the back of the Bees net.

It was a quiet start to the half, with both teams exchanging spells of possession.

The first major chance of the second period came on the hour mark, as Fernández skipped down the left and flashed a ball across the box towards the back post. Jackson was on the end of it but he couldn't divert his effort into a gaping goal, as his shot flew over the crossbar.

Chelsea came close to a second when Palmer played through Jadon Sancho and, despite rounding Flekken, he was at a tight angle and decided to clip a cross into the box, but Ethan Pinnock was there to head it away.

An incredible save from Robert Sanchez kept the hosts ahead. A corner was semi-cleared by Chelsea and, after Nathan Collins hooked the ball to the far post, Christian Nørgaard's fantastic volley was tipped over the crossbar by the fingertips of the Spanish keeper.

Somehow, the Bees were denied again - this time by the crossbar. Two of the substitutes combined, as Kristoffer Ajer charged down the right and played a low cross into the box. Carvalho was on the end of it but, despite his shot beating Sanchez, it crashed off the woodwork and bounced down onto the line, before Kevin Schade's overhead kick went over.

Despite the visitors pushing for an equaliser and causing Chelsea all kinds of problems, the Blues doubled their advantage with 10 minutes to play. Palmer found himself in space in the final third and played through Jackson, who advanced into the penalty area and rifled the ball into the bottom-right corner.

Mbeumo came close to pulling one back for Brentford, when Vitaly Janelt slid a ball across the box and, after being missed by almost everyone, the forward latched onto the pass but was smothered by Sanchez.

Mbeumo got his goal as the clock struck 90 minutes, as Schade did brilliantly to drive through the Chelsea midfield and thread a ball through to his team-mate. Mbeumo beat the Blues defenders for pace and slid a shot underneath the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.

Despite this and a couple of late Brentford set-pieces, the visitors were unable to find an equaliser as the hosts secured their first home Premier League win against the Bees.

Chelsea's first goalscorer Cucurella was sent off after the final whistle by referee Peter Bankes.

Brentford: Flekken; Van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock; Roerslev (Ajer 75), Yarmoliuk (Carvalho 75), Nørgaard, Damsgaard (Janelt 63), Lewis-Potter (Meghoma 86); Wissa (Schade 75), Mbeumo

Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Mee, Konak, Trevitt

Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Sancho; Jackson (Nkunku 83)

Subs not used: Jørgensen, Disasi, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Acheampong, Guiu, Veiga, Rak-Sakyi

Attendance: 39,571

Frank: We were unlucky not to get a point

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank was pleased with the way his team "competed against a very good team" on Sunday against Chelsea, despite the 2-1 loss.

"Overall, I was happy with the performance," Frank stated.

"First half, there was a lot of good defending against a very good team; I would have liked us to keep the ball a bit more and stayed a bit higher in the pressure at times.

"Second half, I was very pleased with. I thought we really got up higher, were even better on the ball and got out of some tricky situations, we also had a bit more structure.

"I think we were unlucky not to get a point. It's a massive chance we missed with Fábio, Norgaard had a big chance, who was this close to putting it into the back of the net.

"The way we competed against a very good team was very impressive."

Van den Berg on 'frustrating' Chelsea loss

Brentford defender Sepp van den Berg discussed Brentford's defeat at Stamford Bridge, highlighting the positives and negatives from the Bees' performance on Sunday.

“First half, they were the better team, to be honest," said Van den Berg. "We couldn’t get enough pressure on the ball and we were defending low - which you have to do sometimes - but we were struggling to get up the pitch.

“Second half, we were a lot better: a lot of high pressure and we kept the ball a lot more too.

“It’s just frustrating. If the score was 2-2, maybe then it would be a fair result, but we came to a tough ground today.”

He added: "It's the fine margins, but that's the Premier League."