Brentford vs Chelsea – Team News: Debuts and a possible formation change as Maresca mixes it up | OneFootball

Chelsea face Brentford at the G Tech Stadium in just over an hour, and the teams are in!

We expected changes to Enzo Maresca’s team after a busy international break and with injuries starting to pile up, and the manager has been forced to field a quite different team to his first XI.

Some things haven’t changed – Robert Sanchez is in goal and Trevoh Chalobah lines up at centre back with Tosin Adarabioyo. But at full back, Wesley Fofana makes only his second start since last November, with Malo Gusto and Reece James both rested after heavy international minutes.

At left back, summer signing Jorrel Hato makes his first competitive start for the Blues to give Marc Cucurella a break after his international exploits.

In midfield we’re amazed to see Moises Caicedo start given he only arrived back at Cobham late on Thursday night. It’s a big risk to play him with so many big games coming up.

Enzo Fernandez was spared the trip to South America due to his suspension with Argentina, so he starts in the centre alongside Caicedo.

Ahead of them, Facundo Buonanotte, last seen getting relegated with Leicester as a part time player gets his debut. Out wide, Pedro Neto starts on one flank with Jamie Gittens returning to the team to play on the other.

Despite featuring for Brazil, Joao Pedro is just too important to leave out, and he starts up front.

Here are the full team line-ups for Brentford vs Chelsea (kick off at 20:00 GMT)

CHELSEA:

Chelsea’s team to face Brentford in the Premier League.

Much changes Chelsea risk a bad result

Maresca will be desperate to give players like Caicedo and Joao Pedro a break, so the coach will be hoping his team picks up some goals and can start taking off the big guns early.

We can’t rely on that though – this will be a tough game with a lot of new players in the mix.