Chelsea makes history with fourth successive opening London derby.
Following a defeat just before the international, the Bees face the Blues in this London derby, hoping to pick up an unlikely win. Brentford vs. Chelsea kicks off at 20:00 [GMT+1] on Saturday, September 13, at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Life without Thomas Frank has not been particularly impressive, now that the Bees have lost two PL games in three with only one victory sandwiched between their defeats [LWL]. Their most recent defeat was the 2-1 loss to newly promoted Sunderland, just before the international break. Meanwhile, under Thomas Frank, the Bees, who are in 15th place at the moment, finished last season strongly, losing only two of their final 10 Premier League matches (W5 D3). Restarting on a bright note would be ideal but just one of the eight clashes between these two sides has been won by the home side—Chelsea’s 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge in December 2024. Brentford, meanwhile, have claimed three league wins over the Blues, but all of them have come away from home. On their own ground, the Bees remain winless against Chelsea in four Premier League encounters (D3 L1). The silver lining is their home form: Brentford have won three of their last four league matches at the Gtech (L1), a record that gives them confidence heading into this London derby despite their struggles against Chelsea on home turf. This will be something Keith Andrews will be looking to draw inspiration from when he deploys the 4—2—3—1 formation with Igor Thiago in attack.
The Blues are 2nd with 7 points, just two points off league leaders Liverpool, the only side with a 100% winning record in the Premier League so far. They will be keen to keep their place or even leapfrog the Reds, who face Burnley on Sunday. Chelsea will arrive at this fixture having made history of sorts with their early-season schedule. This is their fourth consecutive London derby to start the 2025/26 campaign, making them only the second side in Football League history to begin a season with such a run after Crystal Palace in 2021/22. A 2-0 win over Fulham just before the break left the Blues with back-to-back London derby victories and a win here would give them three in succession for the first time since February 2024, when they strung together four. João Pedro is expected to lead the attack with Liam Delap [hamstring] injured for the foreseeable future, an unprecedented event which failed to stop Nicolas Jackson’s departure to Bayern Munich. The Brazilian will be at the end of Enzo Maresca’s 4—2—3—1 formation.