Chelsea’s last game before the international break will be played under the Friday Night Lights at Brentford, with the Blues hoping to enter the break on a good note and the Bees looking to put a sting in those plans. Brentford have only won one game so far in this year’s Premier League, drawing their last three, but they have also not lost a single game, in any competition. And like our previous two opponents in the league, Arsenal and Hull City, they are built on solid defending (only five teams
have conceded fewer) and set piece excellence, which will make for another trying evening.
The pre-match focus has been on injuries and the ownership transition, but the bigger problem that continues to face Xabi Alonso is our inability to find balance in our play. The attack may be high-powered, but we lack solidity in defense and control in midfield and those are hard things to have to overcome repeatedly on the scoreboard. Alonso is keen to find that balance and maybe even engineer a “boring” win, though he also keeps doing the sensible thing and playing to the team’s strengths, so all that may be a tough balance for him to find.
Last week’s draw against Hull City aside, the results overall have certainly not been bad here in the first month of Alonso’s reign, so that gives him some time and some momentum to find fixes and build. That work continues.
Date / Time: Friday, September 18, 2026, 20.00 BST; 3pm EDT; 12:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Brentford Community Stadium, TW8
Referee: Andy Madley (on pitch); Jarred Gillett (VAR)
Forecast: Mild but breezy and overcast
On TV: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); USA (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); NBC Sports Live (USA); JioHotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Brentford team news: Under new head coach Keith Andrews, Brentford defied the odds last year to match their highest league finish since World War II (9th), and over the summer, they’ve only really added to the squad. Among the new arrivals is midfielder and club-record signing Mamadou Sangaré, who’s impressed immediately, slotting into the spot that Jordan Henderson vacated upon his move to Chelsea.
Brentford have not scored too many goals, only seven, but the speedy Kevin Schade has nearly half of them, three, and he will be a threat just like when he scored against the Blues last season.
Andrews does not have any new injuries to contend with, but he will be without the services of Mathias Jensen, Joshua Dasilva, Antoni Milambo, Nathan Collins, Sepp van den Berg, and Kaye Furo.
Chelsea team news: We have our fair share of injury concerns as well of course, including new additions João Pedro and Reece James. Alonso did not confirm either way whether they would be available, though Brazil pretty much already let the cat out of the bag by announcing that JP had been withdrawn from the national team selection for the upcoming break. James may be the most likely to play of all those in question, including the usual suspects of Moisés Caicedo, Marco Palestra, Emmanuel Emegha, and the aforementioned Henderson.
Without some of our key players, Alonso has had to improvise in midfield, with Malo Gusto in particular seeing way too much time in non-right back positions, but until the squad’s health and availability improves, we’re going to have make do with these and similarly substandard options.
“It is obvious in defence we can do better. In attack, we are doing well. We need to find the right balance between defence and attack. Not to concede that many goals. It is for sure clear. I am sure that we will do it. Everything takes time. We have had circumstances that have allowed us to create the stability that we want. Once we get it, we will be more solid.”
-Xabi Alonso; source: Football.London
Previously: We’ve not done too well against Brentford in recent years, but we are unbeaten in our last five against them, including two wins at the Bridge and three draws at their place. Last season in this fixture, we came from behind to take the lead late on, only to give away two points by giving up an even later equalizer in stoppage time. Hendo got the assist on Brentford’s first goal.
