EFL Cup: Brentford Look to Send Slumping Chelsea Crashing Out

Brentford vs Chelsea

Chelsea head into their EFL Cup quarter-final tie with Brentford in quite a slump. A slew of unconvincing performances and poor results have seen them slip off the pace in the Premier League title race, and things don’t seem to be getting better with their current Covid crisis.

Thomas Tuchel’s side will now take on Thomas Frank’s Brentford, who gave Chelsea all they could handle in their first league meeting at the Brentford Community Stadium.

The Bees have not been in action for the last two weeks due to back-to-back Covid-induced postponements, but they will look to defy the EFL Cup 2021 betting odds by sending the slumping Blues out of the competition.

Talking Points

Injury and Covid-hit Chelsea in crisis

Things are not going well at Chelsea at the moment. The Blues were held to a goalless draw by Wolves over the weekend, their second straight draw and fourth in their last eight games.

Chelsea have won just three of those last eight games, one of which was a dramatic 3-2 win over struggling Leeds that needed a late Jorginho penalty.

The Blues’ poor run of results has seen them drop to third in the Premier League table, six points behind defending champions and leaders Manchester City.

Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel was angry that amid the ongoing Covid-related postponements in the Premier League, his side was still forced to play on despite having Romelu Lukau, Timo Werner, and Callum Hudson-Odoi all ruled out after testing positive. Andreas Christensen, Jorginho and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were also out due to injury.

With a makeshift front three of Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount, and Hakim Ziyech, and young centre-back Trevoh Chalobah moving into the midfield, the Chelsea attack attempted just eight shots against Wolves, with only one on target.

The good news for Chelsea was that midfielders N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic both returned to the lineup after their respective absences. Although, it seems unlikely either will be risked against Brentford. Ross Barkley, the out-of-favour Saul Niguez, or perhaps even a Chelsea youngster or two could be brought in to start.

Brentford finally set to step back onto the pitch

After back-to-back postponements of their matches against Manchester United and Southampton due to Covid outbreaks, Brentford are finally set to step back onto the pitch.

The last time Brentford were in action, they beat Watford 2-1 at home to snap a run of two games without a win. Pontus Jansson equalised six minutes from time before Bryan Mbeumo buried the winning penalty six minutes into stoppage time.

Brentford’s top striker Ivan Toney missed the Watford match after testing positive for Covid. However, he looks set to return to the side, which will be a huge boost to the Bees. Toney is having a terrific first season in the top flight with the Bees, scoring four goals with two assists.

Toney also made some EFL Cup 2021 highlights when he got a goal and an assist in Brentford’s 2-1 win over Stoke in the previous round.

But Brentford have issues at the back, with a trio of centre-backs in Ethan Pinnock (Covid), Zanka and Kristoffer Ajer all likely to miss out.

Brentford have quite a disappointing home record thus far this season, with just three wins and four defeats in eight Premier League games. However, two of those three wins have come back-to-back against Everton and Watford.

History

This will be the fourth cup match between Brentford and Chelsea in the last decade. They met twice in the 2013 FA Cup. Brentford held Chelsea to a 2-2 draw before losing 4-0 in the replay at Stamford Bridge. They met again in the FA Cup in 2017, where Chelsea again won 4-0.

And earlier this season, Chelsea narrowly beat the Bees 1-0 thanks to a Ben Chilwell strike. However, Chelsea were left hanging on late as Brentford came close to stealing a point.

Betting Tip

	Brentford vs Chelsea	Brentford Asian Handicap +1.00 @ 1.69
	December 23, 03:45 (GMT+8)

Despite Chelsea’s dip in form coupled with their long list of absentees, SBOTOP odds still have them installed as 1.71 favourites to beat Brentford, who are priced at 4.80. Meanwhile, a draw is at 3.50.

There is a lot to like about Brentford in this matchup. They will be very fresh after not playing for the past few weeks, they will be at home, and they should be well-prepared to recreate the way they troubled Chelsea in their first meeting this season.

The Blues will still pose a problem even with all the problems they have to deal with at the moment, but Brentford represent a legitimate threat and could very well cause a quarter-final upset.

 

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