Premier League: Chelsea vs Brentford (or 11th vs 10th )

Chelsea vs Brentford

Yes folks, I’m previewing a big Premier League clash, a London derby between two teams separated by just five points… but this one is a little bit weird.

Only a few years ago this would be a West London battle that nobody in Brentford or in Chelsea would believe could happen in the top flight. Chelsea, for many years have won titles and walked among Europe’s elite while Brentford fumbled around between the second and third tiers of English football.

But here we are; the Blues are hosting the Bees at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday in a battle to be in the top half of the English Premier League. And it’s Brentford who are currently tenth, while Chelsea are the bottom half team. The visitors have some stability with a manager, Thomas Frank, who has been at the club since 2018 and has built a team which can happily face the best in the country. Chelsea have had six managers in that time, though two of them have been Frank Lampard…the present incumbent. 

So what is there to play for?

Well; it’s a top-ten place, which would be a great achievement for Brentford but for Chelsea it’s all about saving face. And both teams want to progress in their projects…but neither has had a win in seven games and the pressure is all on the Blues.     

Talking Points

Lampard must find a way to break his duck

At the start of the 2022/23 campaign the Premier League 2023 betting odds backed Chelsea to finish in the top four but that is a long-gone dream. The Blues have had a week off since they went out of the Champions League to Real Madrid and they have surely been looking at ways to increase their strike rate. With just one goal in six matches, a 2-1 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, the forwards have been toothless to say the least, with Kai Havertz top scoring on seven. Only Raheem Sterling, with four goals and Mason Mount with three have scored more than twice all campaign and that is a pitiful statistic for such an expensively assembled team.

An element of pride must come into it at some stage. Lampard has lost all four of his games in charge and, as a player he reached legendary status at the Bridge. The current crop of Havertz, Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk have bags of potential but the Chelsea fans and board want to see some success on the field…and soon.        

Top Ten is within the Bees’ reach

Brentford had a brilliant first half of the campaign but their Premier League 2023 results have tailed off, though they have had a tough run of fixtures, drawing with Brighton and losing narrowly to Newcastle United and Manchester United. A home draw with a bang in form Aston Villa might have got them back on track and they have a five-point lead over Chelsea so, if they can avoid defeat on Wednesday they will have a handy cushion to take them into the final run-in; and if Chelsea make a charge, eighth-placed Fulham are only a point ahead.

Much of Brentford’s success has been down the 19 goals of star striker Ivan Toney, while the Bees have a high pressing style, confidence on the ball throughout the team and a well-organised defence. Ethan Pinnock and Ben Mee have been a superb centre-back partnership since the former Burnley man moved south and they will take some beating when Chelsea’s young forward line advances.

History

Chelsea have won four of the seven head-to-heads with Brentford, drawing two and losing one. But the Bees have had the measure of their illustrious neighbours recently, drawing the return match 0-0 and when they visited Stamford Bridge late last season they came away with a 4-1 victory.

Both teams have drawn two and lost three of the last five games which means the Bees have drifted out of European contention and the Blues are in the sort of limbo no one could have imagined.

Brentford’s away form has not been so bad, with three wins, seven draws and six defeats on the road.

Betting Tip 

At a SBOTOP price of 1.64 the Blues are hot favourites to win this game and a match against a team struggling to win surely gives them a great chance. But football doesn’t always work like that and the Bees, at 4.26 to win and 3.54 to draw have had plenty of success against so-called ‘bigger clubs’ this season, famously belting Manchester United 4-0.    

I suspect Lampard’s wait for a win might go on…

 

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