Date: Saturday 2nd
April 2022
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
After another dull international break, with
the press column-inches filled with the latest updates on Raine’s version of
Bruce’s Price is Right and the Ricketts daily declarations of their apparent new-found
moral excellence, it’s back to some semblance of normality this afternoon with
a 3pm kick-off at home to Brentford in the Premier League.
We could have done without the
international break to be honest, because we’d hit a good run of form with six
wins on the bounce in all competitions, including our last five in the Premier
League. After beating Newcastle in the and Lille in the Champions League, we went
into the break with a win over Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, to the obvious disappointment
of everyone outside of Chelsea. Next up, it’s a Champions
League quarter-final against Real Madrid on Wednesday night, but with just a
five-point gap over fourth-placed Arsenal, we’re not in a comfortable enough
position to take let that cloud our focus today.
15th
placed Brentford, had wins against Norwich and Burnley, before losing to
Leicester ahead of the break. The Bees struggle to keep clean sheets away from
home and have won just one from their last 11 on their travels. They’ve also
lost against us twice this season, in the league and the EFL Cup, so Frank will
undoubtedly have taken some lessons from those games. They’ll be focused on
keeping away from the drop-zone, although they do have an eight-point buffer
from the relegation places. They’ve also got themselves a really good signing in
Christian Eriksen and it’s genuinely heartwarming to see him back playing
again, although I might not feel so fuzzy and warm about that later!
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into
today’s game, Thomas Tuchel, says “Maybe it is also normal (struggling) as a newcomer in the
toughest league in the world. They expected maybe to not fly through the season
like they started. When we played them in the first match, it was maybe one of
the worst moments to play them because they were absolutely flying. They were
full of positivity and belief, we played a very good match and struggled in the
last 18 minutes like crazy and we needed to defend and a lot of luck to escape
with three points. Then we had another match at Brentford in the Carabao Cup,
we played very very well and learned from our first match. That’s the challenge
for tomorrow. They played for a long period of the season in a back five,
5-3-2, but they change in the last matches to a 4-3-3. Let’s see what they do
tomorrow. They are still a very physical team, a very direct team. They still
are a team that rely heavily on set pieces so we know about it and need to be
ready. We expect a tough one again.”
Brentford
manager, Thomas Frank, meanwhile, says “Everyone
came back fresh and available. We are ready to go and are looking forward to
the game. I hope we perform well and
get a result because we have been close against the top six clubs. It will be
unbelievably difficult going to Stamford Bridge against a top Chelsea side.
Thomas Tuchel and his staff have done an unbelievable job under very tough
circumstances. We haven’t had the margins with us in these bigger games so,
hopefully, we can get some points in games where all the bookmakers say we have
no chance.
They are a
team of World Class players. They are a team, with a coach, who won the
Champions League last year and who have a chance to win it again this year. If
we can go there and win, it will be the result of the season for us. We will go
there and do everything we can. We know they are massive favourites and nine
out of ten times they will win.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, Ben Chilwell (knee), remains our long-term absentee,
and Callum Hudson-Odoi (Achilles) also remains out. Reece James (muscular)
returns and Andreas Christensen, Saul Niguez and Kepa Arrizabalaga are also available.
For Brentford, Julian Jeanvier is a long-term absentee, but there are no
new fitness concerns and Josh Dasilva returns after a three-match ban.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger, Alonso; Kante, Kovacic; Ziyech,
Mount, Werner; Havertz
BRENTFORD (Possible line-up): Raya; Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock, Henry;
Norgaard, Jensen; Mbeumo, Eriksen, Wissa; Toney
CURRENT FORM (ALL)
CHELSEA: DWWWWW
BRENTFORD: DLLWWL
LAST SEASON
N/A
OTHER STUFF
- Chelsea are unbeaten in eight meetings with
Brentford in all competitions since 1939.
- Brentford have failed to score in six of their last
seven competitive games against Chelsea.
- Chelsea have their last 6 in all competitions and
their last five in the Premier League.
- Chelsea haven’t won three in a row at home in the
league since the end of the 2019-20 season
- Chelsea have won six of their seven London derbies
in the league this season.
- Brentford conceded just once in their opening three
Premier League away games but have done so in each of the subsequent 12 such games.
- Brentford have lost six of their last seven Premier
League away games.
- Brentford have lost nine games in all competitions
this calendar year.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Chelsea 2-0 Brentford
