Match Preview: Brentford v Chelsea | OneFootball

Brentford face Chelsea at Gtech Community Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon (2pm kick-off GMT).

The Bees have lost just one of their last six matches against their west London rivals, which was the 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge earlier this season. Enzo Maresca's side beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the Premier League on Thursday evening.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know before the Bees' latest test.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Damsgaard v Caicedo the key battle on Sunday

Brentford host Chelsea at Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday, looking to replicate their formidable away form against the Blues on their own patch.

The Bees have won on three of their last five visits to Stamford Bridge, memorably inflicting a 4-1 hammering on the Blues back in 2022 while current England manager Thomas Tuchel watched on from Chelsea's dugout.

However, despite a couple of draws in the sides' last two meetings in TW8, Brentford are yet to beat the Blues at home since they were promoted to the Premier League.

With a European spot still an outside possibility, Thomas Frank and his side will target three points this Sunday from what promises to be an intriguing tussle.

Although Man City still top the Premier League charts when it comes to ball possession and pass completion in 2024/25, Chelsea (58 per cent possession and 87 per cent pass completion) rank second to the Cityzens in both stat categories.

It will be interesting to see, therefore, whether the Bees - who shaded possession in their 2-1 midweek reverse at Newcastle - opt to try and wrestle the ball off their London rivals, or cede possession and play more directly.

Interestingly, Kevin Schade (70) took more touches than any other attacking player for the Bees against the Magpies, and his growing influence in a creative sense was illustrated by the fact that no player at St. James' Park played more key passes than the German international (three).

Schade almost earned Brentford a point late on with a shot, which was kept out by the legs of Nick Pope, and he popped up on both flanks to whip in a number of dangerous crosses. The 23-year-old's aerial prowess is also an increasingly potent weapon for the Bees: Schade now ranks 12th in the Premier League for aerials won this season.

Elsewhere, Bryan Mbeumo's coolly converted penalty brought up the Cameroon international's 16th top-flight goal of the season, and the Brentford man is now two clear of Chelsea dangerman Cole Palmer (14) in the Premier League goal charts.

Without a goal in his last 11 games in all competitions, Palmer is currently on the longest dry patch of his Chelsea career, but the England star will have recovered from the muscle injury that saw him rested during the recent international break.

The Blues' leading scorer ranks top for shot-creating actions (154) and second for key passes (73) in the top flight this season and - with Palmer no doubt keen to end his goal drought - keeping Chelsea's no.20 quiet is a priority for the Bees on Sunday.

Another key match-up at the weekend will see Brentford playmaker Mikkel Damsgaard pitted against Chelsea's midfield anchor Moisés Caicedo. Arguably the Blues' Player of the Season to date, the Ecuadorian provides bite and composure in the middle of the park and, with 41 interceptions made and 88 tackles won, he is Maresca's enforcer.

Caicedo's athleticism and will to dominate will be tested by Damsgaard, however. The Dane (10) ranks second to only Liverpool's Mo Salah (17) in the Premier League for assists this term, and his ability to find a yard of space and dissect defences is up there with the best in the division.

An entertaining encounter appears on the cards and Brentford have a huge incentive to dent their visitors' Champions League hopes - as a win for the Bees would cut the gap between the two sides to just five points.

Scout report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Chelsea's form slightly stuttering after superb start

Around the end of 2024, Enzo Maresca was consistently asked - maybe too often - in his press conferences whether Chelsea were in the Premier League title race.

The Blues were second in the table going into the visit of Brentford on 15 December, having won nine of their first 15 games, so it was a valid question. But, each time, the Italian calmly batted away the suggestion.

"When you start to think in two days, three days, one month, two months, it's the beginning of the bad time," he said on one occasion. On others, he pointed to the fact that he was just a matter of months into his project at Stamford Bridge, while the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta were several years deep into theirs at Man City and Arsenal.

Some said his words were to shield his players from the pressure of such a challenge, others agreed he was simply stating a fact, nothing more. But his words were soon validated and, when the form began to stutter after a 2-1 win over the Bees, there was not such a comedown as he had not talked the suggestion up.

Chelsea didn't win any of the next five. They drew against Everton, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, lost against newly-promoted Ipswich, then were beaten by west London rivals Fulham at home for the first time since October 1979.

Since then, they have beaten Wolves, West Ham, Southampton and Leicester, as you would expect a team challenging at the top end of the table to do. But they have also lost to Man City, Brighton, Aston Villa and Arsenal - those are the real challenges that properly put title credentials to the test.

After beating Tottenham on Thursday evening, they are 21 points behind leaders Liverpool with only 24 points left to play for so, even if they are not mathematically out of it, common sense says otherwise.

"What I can say between the first game against Arsenal and today's game is: I don't see a big difference between us and them," said Maresca after the 1-0 defeat to the Gunners before the international break. "This means, since I arrived, I have a feeling we are on the right path. And we are very close."

The battle to finish in the top four or five is hotting up, with 10th-placed Bournemouth only five points behind the Blues in sixth, so more consistent results in the final weeks will do them well, especially as their final four opponents are Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.

That is a clear priority, but so is the Conference League. They won the group stage at a canter - winning all six games and scoring 26 goals - beat Copenhagen 3-1 on aggregate in the last 16 and now face Legia Warsaw later this month for a place in the semi-finals. It will come as no surprise that Maresca's side are still odds-on favourites.

So now they are targeting a first top-four finish since 2021/22 and European glory, too. Do they have what it takes to achieve both?

In the Dugout

Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca played in the academies of AC Milan and Cagliari in his native Italy before turning professional in 1998... with West Brom.

After a season-and-a-half at the Hawthorns, the midfielder signed for Juventus. He only played 37 league games for the club in four years, though, and spent time on loan at Bologna and Piacenza.

Maresca - a 15-time Italy U21 international - then spent time at Fiorentina, before joining Sevilla in 2005. It was in Spain that he spent the most successful years of his career.

Across a four-year period, he won the UEFA Cup twice, the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.

He went on to play for Olympiacos, Malaga, Sampdoria, Palermo and Hellas Verona, then retired from professional football on his 37th birthday in February 2017 and was appointed assistant at Ascoli four months later.

Less than a year after starting work as Man City's Elite Development Squad manager, Maresca was headhunted by Parma in May 2021, but he lasted only 14 games as head coach before he was sacked.

He later returned to City as Pep Guardiola's assistant but departed again one year later to take up the vacant managerial position at Leicester.

In June 2024, after leading the Foxes to the Championship title, he was announced as the successor to Mauricio Pochettino on a five-year contract at Chelsea.

The Gameplan

With Bobby Vincent, football.london

Bobby Vincent, Chelsea writer for football.london, explains how Enzo Maresca is likely to set up his side to face the Bees.

"Even as a journalist who covers Chelsea on a frequent basis, Enzo Maresca keeps people guessing," said Vincent.

"He usually likes one of his full-backs to either tuck inside and slot next to Moisés Caicedo, or he will use them as an advanced winger, and he has even used Marc Cucurella as an attacking midfielder at times this season.

"One thing we know, though, is that he likes two attacking midfielders behind the striker and they tend to be Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernández.

"In possession, Chelsea move to a three at the back formation usually and when they do not have the ball, it goes to a more conventional back four."

Read our full interview with Bobby Vincent here.

Match Officials

Third Gtech trip this term for Oliver

Referee: Michael Oliver

Assistants: Lee Betts and Dan Cook

Fourth official: Lewis Smith

VAR: Stuart Attwell

Michael Oliver will take charge of a third Brentford game at Gtech Community Stadium when he has the whistle for Sunday's Premier League clash against Chelsea.

The 40-year-old was the man in the middle for the Bees' 4-1 win over Leicester in November as well as December's 2-0 home reverse against Nottingham Forest.

His last Premier League outing was in late February as he oversaw Brighton's 2-1 win against Bournemouth while, since then, he has refereed in the FA Cup, Nations League and Champions League.

Oliver has shown 157 yellow cards and nine reds in 35 games in all competitions this term, seven of which came in his last trip to TW8 for the Forest clash.

Memorable Meeting

Chelsea 1 Brentford 4 (Premier League, 2 April 2022)

Almost three years ago to the day, Brentford secured a stunning 4-1 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Bees recorded their first win over their west London rivals since 1939, as they came from behind to stun the Champions League holders with three goals in 10 minutes in the second half, before adding a fourth late on.

Antonio Rudiger flashed a brilliant 30-yard finish past David Raya three minutes after the restart to put the hosts ahead. Vitaly Janelt hammered home the equaliser two minutes later, before Bryan Mbeumo squared a pass for Christian Eriksen to net his first goal for the club.

Janelt broke clear on the hour to beat Chelsea keeper Édouard Mendy again, before substitute Yoane Wissa completed the rout in the closing moments.