Chelsea secured their sixth straight win in the UEFA Conference League with a 3-1 victory over Astana in Kazakhstan on Thursday evening. It is the first time since spring 2022 that we have won six times in a row across all competitions. The next game back then? Brentford at home.

The first goal of this game belonged to Antonio Rüdiger, a 35-yard bomb that our former defender had tried to score at least once in every game before. It had even become a bit of a joke…until he actually did it!

But then everything changed. Brentford came back in the second half to win 4-1. Chelsea would be sold a month later. Thomas Tuchel would be sacked 100 days later. Since then we haven’t even sniffed the top four.

Are we back? It could be us.

Date/Time: Sunday, December 15, 2024, 7:00 p.m. GMT; 2:00 p.m. EST; 12:30 PM IST (Next Day)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Peter Bankes (on the pitch); Matt Donohue (VAR)
Forecast: positively mild after Thursday evening

On TV: none (UK); USA, Telemundo (USA); none (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: none (UK); NBC Sports Live, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (USA); Disney+ Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)

Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Chelsea team news: Enzo Maresca continues to insist we are not in a title fight, but with Liverpool and Arsenal both dropping points (again) on Saturday, Chelsea can consolidate our position in second place and close the gap to the top to just shortening the score by two points (even though Liverpool still have a game in hand). Small horses or big horses, this course is far from over.

It was a skeleton crew that traveled to Kazakhstan during the week, and only Pedro Neto made the trip from the first team regulars – and probably only because he is suspended for one game after picking up his fifth yellow card last weekend the season had conceded. Chelsea continue to lead the yellow card league, although only Robert Sánchez and Nicolas Jackson are currently in immediate danger of a ban. You have four games to avoid another one before the limit increases from five to ten.

Our injury situation has worsened somewhat in the last few weeks, but remains manageable. Reece James and Wesley Fofana are out until the new year, while João Félix and Roméo Lavia have struggled with absences in recent days. And Mykhailo Mudryk has missed recent games due to an unspecified illness.

Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Brentford team news: Despite numerous rumors and vacancies, manager Thomas Frank stayed at Brentford last summer and has now been at the helm for over six years – the third longest-serving manager in the top four divisions. He led them to promotion in 2021 and a ninth-place finish a few years ago. Last season was the first time they performed worse under his leadership than the year before, but this season they are back in mid-table and aiming for a place in the top six.

The Bees are one of the top scoring teams in the league, but have also conceded more goals than most. In fact, only Wolverhampton’s games have seen more goals overall, and that’s mainly because Wolves concede a ridiculous amount of goals. Brentford can also look back on an impressive home and away record: they are unbeaten at home with seven wins and one draw; With six defeats and one draw, they are winless away from home.

The duo of Brian Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa lead the way with nine goals each, with the likes of Mikkel Damsgaard and Keane Lewis-Potter pulling the strings. Not exactly household names, but effective enough. They have not scored a goal in two games in any competition this season. However, they only kept two clean sheets in the same period.

They have some notable injuries but should bring back midfielder Vitaly Janelt. He scored a brace in the aforementioned 4-1 win at the Bridge. Josh Dasilva, Mathias Jensen, Aaron Hickey, Rico Henry and Gustavo Nunes remain out.

Previously: Since returning to the Premier League, Brentford have won all three of their short trips to the Bridge and have not lost to us on five consecutive occasions. That’s not great!