Brentford vs Chelsea Match Preview: Team News, How to Watch & Prediction

Brentford face their toughest league test of the season so far on Friday night when Chelsea make the short trip across West London to the Gtech Community Stadium.

Keith Andrews’ side have made an unbeaten start to the Premier League season, opening with a 3-0 win over Tottenham before drawing with Leeds, Sunderland and Bournemouth. Whilst Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Reading has kept their Carabao Cup dreams alive.

Chelsea arrive with seven points from their opening four Premier League games which have been filled with action. Xabi Alonso’s side beat Fulham and Brighton before losing 2-1 at Arsenal, while their most recent league outing ended in a 2-2 draw at home to Hull City.

There has been no shortage of entertainment in Chelsea’s games so far. They have scored 10 league goals but conceded nine, while Brentford have scored seven and allowed only four.

Nathan Collins remains the biggest absence for the Bees after the captain suffered a calf strain against Sunderland. Andrews has already confirmed that he will not return before the international break, leaving Jannik Schuster and Sepp van den Berg among the options alongside Kristoffer Ajer in central defence.

Mathias Jensen is another player unlikely to feature. The midfielder missed the draw at Bournemouth and was not part of the squad for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Reading, having previously been expected to remain out beyond this week.

There was much better news surrounding the return of Fábio Carvalho. The attacking midfielder made his first competitive start in 11 months at Reading following an ACL injury and marked his return with Brentford’s second goal. He played 77 minutes before being replaced by Aaron Hickey and will give Andrews another option through the season.

Andrews made eight changes at Reading, meaning most of the side that started against Bournemouth should be fresh enough to return on Friday.

Kevin Schade will be amongst those expected back in the XI after scoring twice at the Vitality Stadium last weekend. Igor Thiago and Sangare recieved limited minutes suggesting they’ll both be starting on Friday night, whilst Caoimhín Kelleher was among those given a rest in midweek.

Chelsea have shown plenty going forward under Alonso but have yet to find the same consistency without the ball.Their first four league games have produced 19 goals in total. They followed a 3-2 win at Fulham with a 4-3 victory over Brighton, before defeat at Arsenal and the 2-2 draw with Hull.

Chelsea twice fell behind against Hull and needed Joao Pedro’s second-half goal to rescue a point, with Alonso admitting afterwards that there were areas of his team’s performance that still needed improvement.

There are also several fitness situations to watch ahead of Friday.

Moisés Caicedo has been dealing with a calf problem, last playing in Chelsea’s win over Brighton, although Alonso had previously identified the Brentford fixture as the possible return date for the midfielder.

Former Brentford midfielder Jordan Henderson and Emmanuel Emegha have also been sidelined since the start of the season, but both were being targeted for possible involvement against the Bees. Whilst Marco Palestra is in the final stages of his recovery from a quad injury and could also come back into contention.

Romeo Lavia has already returned and started against Hull, whilst Joao Pedro withdrew from International duty for Brazil on Wednesday, but the extent of that injury is still to be determined.

Xabi Alonso will provide an injury update as part of his pre-match press conference this afternoon.

Brentford have already shown this season that they are comfortable without dominating possession.

Andrews has continued to lean on the physical side of his team, quick transitions and set-pieces, while Schade’s pace gives the Bees a direct route into space when opponents commit numbers forward.

That could be particularly useful against Chelsea. Alonso’s side have enough quality to control long periods with the ball, but nine goals conceded through four league matches shows there have also been opportunities for opponents to get at them, usually on the counter attack.

The Bees will need to cope without Collins both as a player and a leader against a Chelsea attack containing Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Pedro Neto and potentially Joao Pedro, but the Bees have been difficult to beat at the Gtech.

The corresponding fixture last season also produced late drama.

Schade gave Brentford the lead before Palmer and Caicedo turned the game around after half-time, only for Carvalho to score a 93rd-minute equaliser and rescue a 2-2 draw.

Brentford host Chelsea at the Gtech Community Stadium on Friday, September 18.

Kick-off is at 8pm BST.

The game will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports, with streaming available through Sky Go and NOW.

In the United States, kick-off is at 3pm ET, 2pm CT, 1pm MT and 12pm PT. The match will be shown on USA Network.

In Canada, the same local kick-off times apply: 3pm ET, 2pm CT, 1pm MT and 12pm PT. Every Premier League game is available live through Fubo.

Chelsea have enough attacking quality to cause Brentford problems, particularly with Collins unavailable, but their opening weeks have also shown how vulnerable they can be defending when games become stretched.

Brentford have yet to lose in the league and have already shown an ability to stay in difficult matches even when not playing particularly well.

With the Gtech under the lights and Chelsea still conceding regularly, Brentford could make this another very open West London derby.

Prediction: Brentford 2-2 Chelsea