Chelsea face Brentford at Stamford Bridge in just under an hour, and the teams are in!
It’s been an odd week – a monster trip to Kazakhstan, a rearranged Sunday night kick off, players dropping due to illness and injury. Enzo Maresca’s usually stuffed squad is suddenly looking a little thin.
The coach was still able to leave his first XI at home in midweek, and he picks a team with just a few tweaks from the one which beat Tottenham a week ago.
Robert Sanchez returns in goal, but in the backline Benoit Badiashile seems to be injured as he’s left out of the squad. Tosin Adarabioyo, who did play Astana on Thursday, keeps his place, slotting into a back four with Marc Cucurella on the left, Malo Gusto on the right and Levi Colwill alongside him in the middle.
In midfield, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez play, with Romeo Lavia out injured as we suspected from looking at midweek training footage.
The attack sees Nicolas Jackson lead the line, with Jadon Sancho on his left, Noni Madueke his right and Cole Palmer in the hole behind.
Despite missing some training, Christopher Nkunku is fit for the bench. But Mykhailo Mudryk is still unwell, Pedro Neto is out suspended and Joao Felix seems to have a fitness issue too.
That means there’s not a huge amount of attacking depth on the bench – academy talent Tyrique George gets the callup, and may see some minutes later on.
The previously frozen-out Josh Acheampong is on the bench after getting a midweek start – more signs that a new contract is coming soon. There’s enough in this starting team to beat Brentford, but after an odd week, we’ve certainly got concerns.
Here are the full team line-ups for Chelsea vs Brentford (kick off at 19:00 GMT)
CHELSEA:
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— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 15, 2024
