Brentford return to the familiar environment of the Gtech, looking for a return to winning ways following Monday night’s reverse away to West Ham. Nick Bruzon previews.
Had a referee been present in that one, things may well have ended level at half-time with the Bees in the driving seat. Instead, a stonewall penalty shout was turned down by Michael Oliver and when the teams re-emerged for the second period, it was the hosts who took advantage of an uncharacteristically off-par defence.
The bad news for Brentford is that with Ethan Pinnock already missing, it seems like Ben Mee will now be joining him on the sidelines for the foreseeable. With one very reliable source suggesting he will be out for the remainder of the campaign, all ears will be on Thomas Frank’s Friday press conference to see if the worst is confirmed.
Any further injuries aside, the team names itself. A trio of Zanka, Nathan Collins and Kris Ajer line up in front of Mark Flekken (whose effort against Wolves was nominated for February’s save of the month on Thursday).
They’re likely to be supported by Sergio Reguilón and Keane Lewis-Potter. The latter had a wonderful game against West Ham, scooping our star player award as his pace and trickery caused all manner of problems down the right. Mathias Jensen, Christian Norgaard and Vitaly Janelt are the standard midfield trio with Ivan Toney and Neal Maupay up top.
As for Chelsea, their injury list seems longer than ours although they have the prodigious talents of Cole Palmer to call upon. Ten league goals sees him as their highest top-flight scorer this season although he isn’t the only threat. Conor Gallagher, Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk all found the back of the net in Wednesday’s five-goal FA Cup thriller.
This time around it was Leeds United who fell apart (plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose) rather than the blue billion-pound bottle jobs as Gallagher’s last-minute effort meant extra time was avoided at Stamford Bridge.
They’ll be glad to have reached the quarter-finals although broader form this season has been very much like the curate’s egg. Combine that with Brentford’s fine record against The Blues since reaching the top flight and there is all manner of cause for optimism.
Whilst we all know that past records don’t count for much more than tub-thumping, in this case things could be different. Gary Neville’s zinger after the EFL Cup final defeat to Liverpool has meant that all focus will be on Chelsea and Poch this weekend. The expectation for them to perform, huge.
Will the pressure get o to them? Will our own man of the moment, Neal Maupay, do what he does once more? Also, he might score a goal or two. Whilst many will see Brentford as the bridesmaid rather than the bride in this one, that suits me fine.
A West London derby will always have a cracking atmosphere. Chelsea can have all the pressure of expectation. The Bees can just get out there and have fun.
Bring it on and see you there!
