Chelsea meet Brentford at Stamford Bridge in a West London derby as both teams chase a top-ten finish.
Victory would see Chelsea remain in 11th position in the table, whilst Brentford can go ninth with a win if Fulham lose elsewhere on Tuesday evening.
Team News
Reece James and Mason Mount won’t be available for Chelsea due to respective hamstring and groin injuries, which could see the pair ruled out for remainder of this season.
Kai Havertz (knee) is also sidelined but expected to return before the conclusion of the season.
Kalidou Koulibaly (hamstring) and Armando Broja (knee) remain absent.
Brentford will be without Christian Norgaard after the midfielder was substituted in their 1-1 draw against Aston Villa with an Achilles injury.
Goalkeeper, Thomas Strakosha will also miss out as he recovers from a minor calf injury.
Pontus Jansson (hamstring), Kristoffer Ajer (calf) and Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Chelsea meet Brentford at Stamford Bridge in a 7:45pm BST kick-off on Wednesday 26 April, live on BT Sport 3 in UK.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea are unbeaten in two of three previous Premier League meetings against Brentford (W1, D1, L1).
- Brentford won 4-1 in their only previous Premier League visit to Stamford Bridge in April 2022.
- There has never been two consecutive draws between Chelsea and Brentford across all competitions.
- Chelsea have conceded twice in three of their last four league matches played at home (D2, L2), during which they only kept one clean sheet in a goalless draw against Liverpool in April 2023.
- Brentford have failed to keep clean sheets in their last six away matches (W1, D2, L3).
Prediction
Having had a week off due to their league clash against Manchester United being postponed, Chelsea hopefully be fired up for this clash after a positive display in their Champions League exit against Real Madrid, where they were more dominant yet their end product issues remain problematic.
Their defence meanwhile were undone by two clinical moments of excellent play by Real Madrid but there is plenty of confidence to bring into this game, where defeat surely would see them settle for their worst top-flight finish since 1996.
Brentford meanwhile endured a difficult contest against Villa at the weekend where they delivered an excellent attacking performance, even if their end product let them down for much of the game but a draw was a fair result given that it was a tightly-matched battle.
Thomas Frank’s Bees will also hopefully be buoyant by how they stunned Chelsea here last season and with the Blues’ end product in worse shape this time round, I can see Brentford having the edge if they can tidy up their final touch.
Prediction: Chelsea 0-1 Brentford
Result: Chelsea 0-2 Brentford
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