Brentford look to continue their strong start to the Premier League season against West London rivals, Chelsea.
Sat seventh and sixth on six and seven points respectively, victory would see Brentford or Chelsea climb to third.
Team News
Brentford have no fresh injury concerns to report after their 2-1 Carabao Cup victory at Reading.
Kaye Furo (unspecified), Nathan Collins (calf), Mathias Jensen (strain), Josh Dasilva (hamstring), Sepp van den Berg (groin) and Antoni Milambo (ACL) remain sidelined.
Chelsea could be without Joao Pedro after he suffered a knee injury during their 2-2 draw at home to Hull last weekend.
Emmanuel Emegha (hamstring), Marco Palestra (knock), Jordan Henderson (wrist) and Moises Caicedo (calf) face late fitness checks.
When is Kick-Off?
Brentford host Chelsea at Gtech Community Stadium on Friday 18 September at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League channels in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Brentford are winless in their last five league meetings against Chelsea (D3, L2).
- Chelsea are yet to lose away to Brentford in the Premier League (W1, D4).
- Two of Brentford’s last four home matches against Chelsea ended in 0-0 draws, whilst the other two clashes ended in 2-2 draws.
- Brentford’s Kevin Schade is yet to score at home this season.
- Morgan Rogers has scored in both of Chelsea’s last two matches (D1, L1).
Prediction
Having clinically battled past Reading on Tuesday evening amidst several changes, Brentford now need to knuckle down and stay focused because they’re still yet to taste defeat but their defensive fragilities still remain an issue, which is a worry especially if Chelsea start as fast as usual.
Xabi Alonso’s Blues meanwhile have their own defensive issues but there is no doubting their firepower which makes them favourites in my opinion, but Hull demonstrated what can be done on the counter-attack so I expect Chelsea to have worked on their counter-attack defending this week.
This clash therefore feels like it could go two ways and be a thriller or a tight cagey affair with both teams cancelling each other out, but I am leaning towards the former.
Prediction: Brentford 2-2 Chelsea
Result: Brentford 3-0 Chelsea
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