Brentford welcome Chelsea to Brentford Community Stadium in a West London derby as both teams chase a semi-final spot in 2021-22 Carabao Cup.
Victory would see Brentford reach the semi-finals for the second consecutive season in this competition, whereas Chelsea are looking to qualify for the final four for the first time since finishing runners-up in 2018-19 season.
Team News
Ivan Toney could return for Brentford after recovering from Coronavirus which saw him miss the Bees’ win over Watford earlier this month, ahead of their two recent matches being postponed due to a further squad-wide outbreak.
Ethan Pinnock is also set to feature if match fit but Mathias Jorgensen (hamstring) is a doubt, whilst Julian Jeanvier, David Raya (both knee), Kristoffer Ajer (hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (hip) remain ruled out indefinitely.
Chelsea could welcome Kai Havertz back after illness forced him to miss Sunday’s Premier League draw at Wolves.
Andreas Christiansen, Trevoh Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek (all knock), Jorginho (illness) and Hakim Ziyech (calf) are all doubtful for this clash.
Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell (all Coronavirus) are ruled out, although Chilwell is already absent with a knee injury.
Stat Attack
- This is the first meeting between Brentford and Chelsea in all versions of the League Cup.
- Brentford have failed to win in all four previous cup clashes against Chelsea in all Cup competitions (D1, L3).
- Chelsea are unbeaten in two away Cup meetings against Brentford (W1, D1).
- Eight of Brentford’s 12 Carabao Cup goals this season were scored by the combination of Marcus Forss (5) and Yoane Wissa (3).
- Each of Chelsea’s last three ties in this competition have finished 1-1 with the Blues winning two of the three resulting penalty shootouts.
Prediction
Having had nearly a fortnight off owing to Coronavirus based issues both in and outside of the squad causing postponements, Brentford will certainly feel like they’ve had a free mini international break but it will be interesting to see how refreshed they’re in the opening minutes.
Chelsea meanwhile were forced to play on with a heavily reduced squad in their draw at Wolves on Sunday, where defensive handling of Wolves’ intensity and creating decent attacks were their weaknesses without the presence of Jorginho and Lukaku amongst others.
Thomas Tuchel’s Blues also seem to be in a rut and lack the ability to rotate players at present which is a worry, especially because I can see Brentford coming out fighting with their robust work rate and match freshness so a defeat for Chelsea here wouldn’t be a bad thing moving forward.
Prediction: Brentford 1-0 Chelsea
Result: Brentford 0-2 Chelsea