Chelsea fans kept an eye on Mauricio Pochettino as they watched their side earn a 2-2 draw with west London rivals Brentford.
The Blues had taken the lead thanks to a header from Nicholas Jackson, but were equalized by Mats Roersleb’s close-range effort.
And moments after Yoan Wissa put Brentford ahead with a stunning overhead kick, away fans began chanting former manager Jose Mourinho’s name and calling for Pochettino to go.
But the Blues salvaged at least a point on Pochettino’s 52nd birthday after Axel DiSasi scored a late equalizer.
Jackson perhaps summed up his shaky first season leading Chelsea’s line in just 10 minutes of the first half.
First, the Senegalese forward embarked on a promising run into the Brentford area, but took a step too far and managed to make a tackle.
He then grabbed a through ball from Enzo Fernandes and rolled it past Bees keeper Mark Frecken and into an empty net.
However, a poor finish allowed Matthias Jorgensen to come back and send the ball under the crossbar.
But 10 minutes before half-time, Jackson took the lead with a brilliant leap between Bees centre-halves Jorgensen and Kristoffer Ajer, and a powerful header from Maro Gusto’s cross.
Pochettino had lamented his side’s injury problems this season before the match, but Brentford’s injuries were egregious.
Ben Mee fractured his ankle in Monday’s game against West Ham, making him the fifth Bees player to suffer a season-ending injury, with Ethan Pinnock, Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey also sidelined. All 4 were wiped out.
For a team that has been without main striker Ivan Toney for half the season and is still without fellow frontmen Brian Mbeumo and Kevin Shade, the fact that they haven’t fallen further into the relegation zone seems remarkable in itself.
But their resolve could not be questioned and the patched-up Bees duly equalized five minutes after half-time when Toney fired the ball into the area.
Sergio Reguilon’s shot was blocked, but the ball rolled to wing-back Roelslev, who fired a shot past Djordje Petrovic.
Two minutes later, they almost took the lead when Vitaliy Janert burst through a sea of blue bodies and fired a shot that grazed the foot of the post.
However, Chelsea squandered a golden opportunity when Gusto led a 4-2 counter-attack and played the ball to Cole Palmer, who went wide of goal from 10 yards out.
In the 68th minute, what looked like a disappointing mistake, Reguilon put in a cross from the left, Frank Onyeka took advantage of the loose ball, and Wissa acrobatically smashed the ball into the roof of the net.
However, with seven minutes left DiSasi reached the far post and headed in a cross from Palmer to give Pochettino another point.
