Chelsea vs Brentford: Bees control shows up chaos at the Blues ahead of west London derby
Little to split captial counterparts on the pitch but a different story off of it
ust one place and five points separate Chelsea and Brentford in the table but their seasons could scarcely be more contrasting.
While Chelsea are actually worse off having spent more than £600million on new players this season under their new owners, Brentford have continued to have success from shrewd business in the transfer market under Matthew Benham.
Pricey Chelsea signings including Marc Cucurella (£58m), Mykhailo Mudryk (£88m) and Raheem Sterling (£50m) have so far failed to deliver.
Across west London, Brentford have bought much smarter, with the additions of £1m loan recruit Kevin Schade and £14m left-back Aaron Hickey paying dividends.
There is also the small matter of the managers at the two club.
In Thomas Frank, Brentford have one of the best coaches in the league.
After dispensing with Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, Chelsea have Frank Lampard in charge on an interim basis until the end of the season. He lifted the Champions League as a Chelsea player but has won just one of his last 18 matches as a manager.
Chelsea have signed 16 players this season yet still sorely lack an out-and-out goalscorer. They have 30 League goals from 39.5 expected goals across the season. Only Everton are underperforming in front of goal by more.
As Chelsea chop and change their attackers, Brentford’s much smaller squad makes them a well-oiled machine. Plus they have a natural finisher. Ivan Toney’s haul of 19 dwarves the tally reached by Chelsea’s top scorer for the season — seven-goal Kai Havertz.
Brentford are without a win in their last six matches and face Manchester City and Liverpool in a daunting run-in. They must therefore view Wednesday’s meeting with Chelsea and a home game with Nottingham Forest on Saturday as golden opportunities to return to winning ways.
Frank, who will be without Christian Norgaard due to an Achilles injury, has admitted Brentford’s winless run has been hard to take.
He said: “The most difficult part of being a head coach is that you, the players and everyone in the football club work so hard the whole week to get that win on a Saturday. When you put in a top performance, like we did against Aston Villa, and you don’t get the points you deserve, that’s hard to accept.”
They may be enduring their toughest spell of the season, but Frank will hope the order he has instilled at Brentford can give them the edge over their chaotic neighbours.