PREVIEW: Chelsea host Brentford as Rosenior hunts perfect league start | OneFootball

A West London Derby awaits this weekend, as Chelsea host Brentford at Stamford Bridge.

The game marks Liam Rosenior’s first league game in charge of the Blues since joining the club a little over a week ago. His first two matches resulted in a 5-1 away win over Charlton in the FA Cup 3rd Round, and a 3-2 home loss to Arsenal in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

However, Brentford provide no easy challenge with Keith Andrews’ men unbeaten in six games, winning five, across all competitions. Andrews’ side picked up a 2-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday last time out to advance to the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup.

The Bees currently find themselves above Chelsea by three places – and two points – in the Premier League table, with forward Igor Thiago being the standout performer so far.

The Brazilian has already netted 16 league goals this term and will be hoping to add to that tally come Saturday afternoon.

Chelsea, by contrast, are having a turbulent season and currently sit 8th in the table having amassed 31 points from their opening 21 games this campaign.

The Blues are without a win in their last five top flight outings, a run that stretches back to December 13th when they beat Everton 2-0.

The reverse fixture between the two earlier this season finished in a 2-2 draw, with Brentford grabbing a point thanks to a last-gasp equaliser from Fabio Carvalho who had only been introduced to the game as a substitute a few moments earlier. The other goals in the game came from Kevin Schade, Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo.

Chelsea were without top performers Reece James and Cole Palmer last night in their defeat to Arsenal, but Rosenior is hopeful they’ll return in time for this weekend. In his pre-match press conference he stated that “both of them are training today, so we just need to assess them after training and make sure they both come through all the protocols…but it’ll be great to have them both back in the squad, and at the moment it looks like they could be.”

The Blues will, however, be without Jamie Gittens and Liam Delap as they continue to recover from illness, along with some members of the Chelsea backroom staff.

With some fans and media deeming him to be at fault for Arsenal’s opener in the Carabao Cup, Liam Rosenior has issued no reassurances that Robert Sanchez will be his starting goalkeeper come this weekend. “I’m here to assess every position, I don’t have number ones and number two’s, that’s not how I work,” he explained.Kickoff at Stamford Bridge is scheduled for 3pm GMT on Saturday 17th January, so the match will not be televised in the UK.