The first of back-to-back west London derbies at Stamford Bridge sees the Blues welcome Brentford at the unusual time of 7pm on a Sunday.

What the kick-off time has given Enzo Maresca and his coaching staff is extra breathing space following our trip to Almaty to face Astana in the Conference League – the travelling Blues contingent didn't land back in the UK until 5.30am on Friday morning.

A youthful side was fielded in Kazakhstan but managed to get the job done. Now, with more than 7,000 air miles racked up, attention turns back to matters on home soil and our Premier League campaign.

This second of six west London derbies this season – Fulham beat Thomas Frank’s side 2-1 in the first in November – is followed on Boxing Day by the Cottagers making the short journey across the borough to the Bridge.

The Bees are currently ninth in the top-flight table and have lost six of their last seven league aways but their Premier League record at the Bridge is frustratingly good: three wins in three.

Chelsea were the only top-four side to claim three points from last weekend’s action and have notched six straight wins on all fronts since our draw with Arsenal.

Impressively, the Blues are 13 points better off this season in like-for-like fixtures and this is an opportunity to make further amends; we lost 2-0 at home to Brentford in October 2023 despite managing 17 shots to their seven.

Chelsea team news

Enzo Maresca’s squad rotation proved invaluable again on Thursday as Astana were defeated. A much-changed side, with many rested regulars back in contention, is anticipated for the Bees' visit.

At Spurs last weekend, Marsca's in-game management helped turn the contest. Malo Gusto came in at right-back, centre-backs Benoit Badiashile and Levi Colwill swapped sides, and Marc Cucurella pushed into midfield.

That had a knock-on impact on Enzo Fernandez and his positioning, which paid dividends as the Argentine netted our third goal of the afternoon and his third in four matches.

Man-marking is increasingly the preferred approach to thwart the Blues, but the likes of Cole Palmer are smart enough to lure their tracker out of position to open forward passing lanes for others.

The calm in the eye of the storm at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Chelsea’s 12-penalty superstar has reached 50 goal involvements (33 himself, 17 assists) in just 48 league games.

Jadon Sancho, meanwhile, has scored in back-to-back league games for the first time since peak Dortmund in February 2021.

The only downsides of last weekend's derby win were Pedro Neto’s fifth yellow card and suspension this weekend, and the subbing of impressive Romeo Lavia to protect his hamstring. Reece James and Wes Fofana remain sidelined.

Chelsea vs Brentford – the history

The first ever top-flight west London derby between Chelsea and Brentford on 23 November 1935 finished 2-1 to the Blues. Winger Dickie Spence netted the winner in a game watched by 56,624 at Stamford Bridge.

In November 1946, another 50,000-plus crowd saw Willie Birrell’s side beat the Bees 3-2. Star striker Tommy Lawton scored the opener in what would be the last top-flight fixture between the two for 75 years.

Brentford’s return to the big time in 2021/22 brought three straight losses for the Blues at the Bridge: a chaotic 4-1 where the hosts led 1-0 at half-time and then successive 2-0s.

The most recent, in October 2023, was towards the end of a run of just one league win in 14 at our ancestral home.

Know this…

In the 3-1 win against Astana on Thursday, four teenagers – Josh Acheampong, Sam Rak-Sakyi, Tyrique George and Marc Guiu – started for the first time for Chelsea in a major European competition.

Before Tottenham last weekend, the last time the Blues overturned a two-goal deficit to win a Premier League game was the 3-2 victory at Southampton on 14 April 2018.

You have to look back to Leeds in December 1996 to find a quicker 2-0 deficit for the Blues in a league game: ten minutes in, a scoreline which held till the end.

Chelsea, the Premier League's leading goalscorers this season, have not lost a home game in December since 2019.

Our next two visitors have dropped 14 points from winning positions so far, one behind biggest offenders Fulham and Ipswich on 15.

Bournemouth versus Watford (ten) is the only Premier League fixture to have been played more times without a home win than the six between Chelsea and Brentford.

Premier League west London derbies 1992-2024