Despite Enzo Maresca’s claims that Chelsea are not ready to challenge for the Premier League title, Chelsea’s amazing form sees them 2nd in the table and with the chance to narrow the gap between them and Liverpool to just 2 points, although Liverpool would have a game in hand. Chelsea now prepares to face free-scoring Brentford. Brentford is placed 10th in the table; however, they have scored the 2nd highest number of goals this season with 31 goals, 4 behind Chelsea, who have scored the most number of goals with 35 goals in 14 games. This game promises to be a high-scoring tactical battle with both coaches being great tacticians. Brentford has 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss in their last 5 games, whereas Chelsea have 5 wins in their last 5 games, which indicates that Chelsea are the favorites going into this, but Brentford cannot be underestimated as they have beaten Chelsea 3 times in their last 5 meetings, and the other 2 have been draws.
Chelsea will be missing Pedro Neto through suspension. Pedro Neto has been a key player this season for Chelsea; he has 3 goals and 5 assists in all competitions. They will also be without Wesley Fofana and Reece James, who both have suffered yet another injury. It is unclear whether Romeo Lavia will feature in this one. As for Brentford, Vitaly Janelt and Kristoffer Ajer are likely to feature after their return from injury. However, Josh Dasilva, Aaron Hickey, Rico Henry, Gustavo Nunes, and Mathias Jensen are all likely to miss out.
Predicted lineup for Chelsea: Robert Sanchez, Marc Cucurella, Benoît Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Malo Gusto, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Jadon Sancho, Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer, and Nicolas Jackson
Predicted lineup for Brentford: Mark Flekken, Sepp Van den Berg, Nathan Collins, Ethan Pinnock, Bryan Mbeumo, Keane Lewis-Potter, Vitaly Janelt, Christian Nørgaard, Yoane Wissa, Fábio Carvalho, and Kevin Schade
The article is authored by Kanav Jain.