Chelsea head to newly promoted Brentford on Saturday evening, looking to maintain their place at the top of the Premier League table with victory.
The European champions have only dropped points twice this term so far – against both the league’s last two winners, highlighting their consistency and quality.
Thomas Tuchel’s side did lose to Manchester City but bounced back with a win over Southampton before the international break.
Brentford, meanwhile, are impressing everyone with their exciting, positive play and have recorded three wins from their seven matches so far.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.
When is the game?
The match kicks off at 5:30pm BST on Saturday, 16 October at the Brentford Community Stadium.
Where can I watch it?
The game will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League. Subscribers can stream the match via the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content.
What is the team news?
Vitaly Janelt and Shandon Baptiste miss out in midfield for the home side, which should see Frank Onyeka come into the line-up. The decision for manager Thomas Frank then will be whether to play with three in attack or stick with the two-man pairing, after Yoane Wissa’s goals prior to the international break. Kristoffer Ajer is a doubt in defence.
Chelsea remain without Christian Pulisic, while N’Golo Kante could be back in if he recovers from Covid in time. Thiago Silva isn’t likely to be involved due to duty with Brazil, while there are fitness doubts over Antonio Rudiger, Reece James and Romelu Lukaku – though the latter should be fine.
Predicted line-ups
BRE – Raya; Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock; Canos, Onyeka, Norgaard, Jensen, Henry; Wissa, Toney
CHE – Mendy; Chalobah, Christensen, Rudiger; Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Havertz, Mount; Lukaku
Odds
Brentford 6/1
Draw 3/1
Chelsea 5/8
Prediction
The Bees won’t make it easy but they’ll still be firm underdogs against the Blues. If the visitors don’t have too many post-internationals concerns, they should take the points. Brentford 1-2 Chelsea.