Fresh from a taxing round-trip to Kazakhstan and back, Chelsea will look to continue their impressive rise from the Premier League peloton against neighbours Brentford on Sunday.
Thanks to their squad depth and youth, head coach Enzo Maresca will be confident his men will turn up to Stamford Bridge showing zero signs of fatigue given that his starting XI is almost certainly going to be a completely different one to the side that triumphed over Astana 3-1.
Attacking midfielder Cole Palmer, in particular, will be eager to continue his free-scoring form as the Blues, who began the weekend second in the table, set their signs on reeling in league leaders Liverpool.
Brentford, meanwhile, will be hoping the proximity of this trip will mean something given their home form this season has been fantastic while their away results have been worrying.
It will be interesting to see if the ninth-placed Bees can prove their strength lies in West London, or if it really is restricted to the confines of the Gtech Community Stadium.
Here’s all the latest team news.
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Chelsea vs. Brentford lineups, predicted starting 11, team news
Maresca will likely be without three injured players until after the festive period: Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Omari Kellyman.
In addition, Pedro Neto picked up his fifth yellow card in the gripping 4-3 comeback win over rivals Tottenham. The leading candidate to step in for him is Noni Madueke, who was kept off the trip to Kazakhstan with what may have been the express intention of keeping him fresh for Sunday.
Other than that, the Blues are expected to flip their starting XI straight back to one similar to the Spurs clash, having made wholesale changes for the Conference League win on Thursday.
Chelsea predicted lineup (4-2-3-1, right to left): Sanchez (GK) — Gusto, Badiashile, Colwill, Cucarella — Caicedo, Fernandez — Madueke, Palmer, Sancho — Jackson
Injured: James, Fofana, Kellyman (all thigh)
Suspended: Neto (yellow-card accumulation)
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Brentford, meanwhile, have a handful of names set to miss out on the short trip to Stamford Bridge. They remain without Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey, while Mathias Jensen is still doubtful.
Vitaly Janelt, however, could return after missing the win over Newcastle United last week. Josh Dasilva‘s knee injury leaves him as a long-term absentee.
Brentford predicted lineup (3-4-2-1, right to left): Flekken — Van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock — Mbeumo, Yarmolyuk, Norgaard, Lewis-Potter — Wissa, Carvalho —Thiago
Injured: Dasilva, Henry (both knee), Hickey, Jensen (both thigh), Janelt (knock, doubt)
Suspended: None
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Chelsea vs. Brentford live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch this Premier League match across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
| TV channel | Streaming | |
| USA | USA Network, Telemundo | Fubo, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, NBC Sports site/app |
| Canada | — | Fubo Canada |
| UK | — | — |
| Australia | — | Optus Sport |
| India | — | Disney+ Hotstar, JioTV |
