'Poor' - Shay Given slams £40m Chelsea star after Brentford draw

Former Premier League goalkeeper Shay Given (Picture: BBC)

Shay Given took aim at Chelsea summer signing Alejandro Garnacho after the Blues dropped points at Brentford .

Fabio Carvalho poked home an injury-time equaliser as Brentford drew 2-2 with west London rivals Chelsea on Saturday evening .

Brentford led at half-time through Kevin Schade’s first-half opener but Chelsea appeared to be closing in on victory through second-half goals from Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo.

Garnacho, a £40m summer signing from Manchester United , played a role in what looked to be a winning goal from Caicedo but then contributed to Brentford’s late equaliser, losing his man at the back-post as Carvalho earned the hosts a point.

It was a frustrating outcome for Chelsea, who missed the chance to climb to the top of the Premier League table before defending champions Liverpool’s trip to Burnley on Sunday .

‘Chelsea didn’t heed the warnings,’ former Premier League goalkeeper Given said on BBC’s Match of the Day .

‘Keep an eye on Garnacho at the back, I know he’s an attacking player but he had a warning before.

Fabio Carvalho earned Brentford a point with an injury-time goal (Picture: Getty)

‘All Garnacho has to do is mark his man and Brentford don’t score. He switches off and reacts too late. His body shape is all wrong, he’s watching the ball, he should be glued to Carvalho, man-to-man.

‘He switches off, he reacts after but it’s too late, the ball is in the back of the net. It’s poor defending, but Brentford deserve credit.

‘I think it’s refreshing. We’ve got tactical geniuses in the Premier League but sometimes you need to go old-school, throw it into the mixer and cause a bit of carnage.

‘That got Brentford a late equaliser today and I think that deserved it.’

"It's on you" 🗣️Jamie Redknapp says Garnacho should have been marking Carvalho ahead of Brentford's equaliser 👇 pic.twitter.com/qKuxpH1wEU — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 13, 2025

Chelsea have now taken eight points from a possible 12 and sit fifth in the Premier League after their opening four games.

Brentford, meanwhile, who lost manager Thomas Frank to Tottenham , are 12th on four points.

Blues boss Enzo Maresca was disappointed Chelsea failed to close out the victory and felt his team ‘deserved’ to return to Stamford Bridge with three points.

‘I think so, yeah,’ he said in his post-match press conference. ‘I think in the second half, we scored twice. We could have scored two or three more goals.

Moises Caicedo looked to have won it for Chelsea (Picture: Getty)

‘Cole had a chance, Pedro [Neto] had a chance. So I think we did enough. Unfortunately, we lost two points just in the last two or three minutes.’

Chelsea begin their Champions League campaign against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night but Maresca insisted he did not have one eye on that European game.

‘No, no, no, no, absolutely [not],’ he said. ‘Joao Pedro, before the game, asked me that he was not fit 100%, better [that he] doesn’t play.

‘And so if I was thinking about Bayern Munich, Joao was on the bench. But Joao played because the focus was about tonight.

‘But for sure, when you have so many games, you have to plan a different option.

‘For instance, Reece James played two games with the international team. So play tonight and thinking on Wednesday. So it’s not, our focus was about tonight.

‘And the reason why is because if this season we play Champions League, it’s because we did well in the Premier League.

‘And if we want to play again Champions League next season, we need to do well in the Premier League.’