Date: Wednesday19th October 2022
Venue: Gtech Community
Stadium
Kick-off: 19:30 BST
After looking well
off our best at the weekend, we’re back at it tonight with a trip to the Gtech
Stadium to face Brentford
Brentford come
into tonight’s game off the back of a win last Friday over Brighton, leaving
them ninth in the table. Chelsea, meanwhile, have had a shorter rest between
games with a win over Aston Villa on Sunday and currently sit in fourth place
in the Premier League.
Brentford Community Stadium hasn’t
been an easy place for anyone to get a win so far this season and the Bees
enjoy a goal or two at home as well. Chelsea are on a run of five wins in all competitions and Kepa has
played no small part in us not conceding in the last four, in particular at
Villa Park at the weekend and he’ll likely face a tough test tonight from Ivan
Toney.
We looked how we
always look without Reece James in the first half on Sunday but some shrewd substitutions
had the desired effect. Graham Potter will have had some thinking to do about
this one because it’s likely to be his toughest game so far, not least because they bent us over and took a 4-1 win at Stamford
Bridge in April.
A tricky night ahead I suspect.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s
game, Brentford manager Thomas Frank, says “Obviously Graham Potter has
taken over, so we’ve tried to look back at the last games he’s been in charge
of. [He’s] made it an unpredictable team
to guess their lineup and shape. We actually expected that, he did it at
Brighton as well. He’s got such a talented and gifted squad so no matter which
players he puts out there it’s more or less 22 equally good players. We’ve prepared for the different shapes and
different players. We know what we do and we will mainly focus on us, and of
course try to a tiny bit in the context of our style of play and the way we
want to do it, focus on a few of their strengths. I think it’s going to be a
fantastic game, hopefully, to witness. We are at home. We know we can be a
threat to any team in this division and have proven that a lot of times.
I’m very impressed with his work in
general, also going further back to Swansea and Ostersunds in Sweden. I think
what he did at Brighton was impressive, adding layers to the club and the team
every single year. I like the way he sees football and the way he’s very
flexible in terms of shapes and using players in different positions, I like
that. He’s a very nice guy when I’ve come across him in the past.”
Chelsea manager Graham Potter, meanwhile,
says “I rate Thomas very highly. I really like him as a person, we
have similar thoughts around the game and life in general. A coach is judged on
how much he gets out of his players and how closely results are aligned to the
club’s expectations. By any measure, he has done a fantastic job.
I think they’re really good at what they do. They have limited
resources but make the most of what they have. They attack with clarity and
defend with aggression and they’re really tough to play against. They are well organised, very dangerous from
set-plays and Ivan Toney is as dangerous as anybody in the league.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Brentford,
Aaron Hickey (ankle),
and Pontus Jansson (hamstring), are injured, whilst Christian Norgaard and
Thomas Strakosha also remain unavailable.
For Chelsea,
N’Golo Kante (hamstring), Wesley Fofana and Reece James (knee) are injured.
TEAMS
BRENTFORD (Possible line-up): Raya; Ajer, Pinnock,
Mee, Henry; Jensen, Janelt, Onyeka; Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Chalobah, Koulibaly, Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho, Kovacic,
Chilwell, Sterling, Mount, Aubameyang
LAST MEETING
Brentford 0-2 Chelsea
(22nd December 2021)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
BRENTFORD: DWLDLW
CHELSEA: WLWWWW
OTHER STUFF
- Brentford won 4-1
at Stamford Bridge in April.
- Brentford have won
six of their last 10 Premier League home games.
- Ivan Toney has
scored six goals in his last five Premier League games
- Chelsea are on a
run of five wins in all competitions,
- Chelsea have won
their last 4 games without conceding.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Brentford 1-2 Chelsea
