Chelsea will look to continue their pursuit of Liverpool at the top Premier League as they face their West London club Brentford in a rare Premier League match on Sunday night.
Strong start below Enzo Maresca has seen the hosts establish themselves as perhaps in top form and will most likely test Arne Slott’s league leaders for the rest of the season. With Cole Palmer in sensational form and a young team that impressively wants, their Italian manager may dismiss suggestions that his team are in the title race, but theirs candidacy as a challenger is hard to beat.
However, there will be caution about the threat that Brentford pose. Doc their outstanding domestic form is rather undermined by a poor road record, a short journey to Stamford Bridge should provide fewer challengers and a chance to continue climbing the table in a tight group of clubs in the top half.
Follow all the latest from Stamford Bridge, plus updates from Southampton v Tottenham, on our live blog below:
Chelsea 0-0 Brentford
Lewis-Potter is the first to try to cross the ball into the penalty area, but Sanchez collects easily.
Chris Wilson15 December 2024 19:02
KICK-OFF! Chelsea 0-0 Brentford
The visiting team gets us going in this west London derby.
Chris WilsonDecember 15, 2024, 7:00 p.m
Chelsea vs Brentford
The lights are off… briefly, the light show begins on the Bridge.
And the teams are out too, with Southampton and Tottenham also kicking off soon in two late starts in the Premier League – you can read why here.
Jack Rathborn15 December 2024 18:57
Chelsea vs Brentford
City’s crisis continues after United’s dramatic turnaround to claim points in the Manchester derby.
After Liverpool dropped points yesterday, Chelsea have a chance to close the gap at the top to just two points.
Brentford can go sixth with a win, which would make it a fourth successive win at Stamford Bridge.
Jack RathbornDecember 15, 2024, 6:55 p.m
Chelsea vs Brentford
Jack RathbornDecember 15, 2024, 6:50 p.m
Matching facts
Brentford are the Premier League’s top scorers in home games this term (26), but only Southampton (4) have scored less away from home than the Bees (5).
Frank’s team scored 31 and conceded 28 goals in the Premier League this season. If they concede twice against Chelsea, they will become only the second side to achieve both 30 goals scored and conceded in the first 16 games of a season in the competition, after Leeds United in 2020-21.
Visa’s last time-out goal against Newcastle was his 35th in the Premier League, just one behind Brentford’s record goalscorer in the competition (Ivan Toney with 36).
Mbeumo has scored nine Premier League goals for Brentford this season, his most in a single campaign (also 9 in 2022-23 and 2023-24). No Cameroonian has scored 10 goals in a single campaign in the competition.
Chris Wilson15 December 2024 18:45
Frank: “I expect an interesting match”
At his conference, Brentford manager Thomas Frank said that Chelsea “may be the best team in the Premier League at the moment.
“Maybe they are even more fit than Liverpool, even though they are at the top of the league. They play incredible football and are well coached.
“[Enzo] Maresca has done a superb job with his coaching staff so far and they look extremely dangerous. They have so many threats going forward and they have top players all over the field.”
He added that Bess had asked for the match to be postponed because of the upcoming Carabao Cup match, but added: “We are proud to be in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and we know that European teams play more games.
“Simply how fair we are that all clubs in the EFL Cup have the same number of days for rest and recovery.”
Chris Wilson15 December 2024 18:40
Matching facts
Chelsea have won each of their last four Premier League games, scoring three or more goals in each of the last three. Only once in the history of the Blues have they scored 3+ goals in four consecutive top-flight matches, and that was in November/December 1954.
Although he is the top scorer in the Premier League this season with 35 goals, Chelsea have scored almost twice as many away goals (23) as at Stamford Bridge (12).
Cole Palmer was involved in 38 Premier League goals in 2024 (25 goals, 13 assists), more than any other player.
Jadon Sancho has scored in his last two Premier League games – last scoring in three consecutive top-flight appearances in February 2021 while at Borussia Dortmund.
Chris WilsonDecember 15, 2024, 6:35 p.m
Maresca: “I hope we can be there soon”
Enzo Maresca insisted once again that his side are not in the title race, saying that “you can smell it and feel it. That’s probably why I say we’re not ready because we don’t feel it right now.
“We will need our fans behind us because I have a feeling it will be a very tough game. It could be a game decided by a small margin,” he said, adding that Brentford is “quite complicated” to play against.
He was also full of praise for Cole Palmer and his personality, saying: “A lot of great players are like that. They almost look like they don’t care about anything, but they sure do and that gives them the freedom to relax.
“You don’t have to spend energy trying to convince him that he needs to be different because he’s acting exactly the way he should be. He likes football. He is one of the first out with the ball [in training].”
Chris WilsonDecember 15, 2024, 6:30 p.m
Matching facts
Chelsea won their first Premier League meeting with Brentford but are winless in their last five against them since then (D2 L3), with all three defeats coming at Stamford Bridge.
Brentford have won all three of their Premier League away games against Chelsea. The last team to win four consecutive league games away from home against the Blues was Leeds United (6 between 1973 and 1991).
None of the six Premier League meetings between Chelsea and Brentford have been won at home (D2 L4).
Chris Wilson15 December 2024 18:25