ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PREVIEW - BRENTFORD VS CHELSEA

English Premier

2026-09-18 - Brentford vs Chelsea

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Brentford v Chelsea
Football: English Premier League
Friday 18th September 2026 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV

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Brentford

Keith Andrews made a few changes to the starting line up, but it is also clear that Brentford fancy a strong run in the League Cup having earned a spot in the Fourth Round. The upcoming international break will allow the club to get a few players back up to speed, and Brentford will be keen to enter this period with the momentum still firmly behind the squad.

It has been a positive start to the season for Brentford who have won a couple of Cup ties and remain unbeaten in the Premier League, although they had to settle for another draw last weekend. This leaves The Bees in 7th place in the early League table and with 6 points on the board, while Brentford have a 1-1-0 record at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Brentford opened the season with a comfortable home win over Tottenham Hotspur, but have not been able to hold onto leads in any of the next 3 Premier League games against Leeds United, Sunderland and Bournemouth. This will be a source of frustration for the manager, even if the unbeaten run has been extended to 8 games in all competitions. Brentford are unbeaten in 6 Premier League fixtures, but 5 of those have ended in draws, while Brentford are unbeaten in 7 Premier League games here even though just 2 have ended in wins.

Mathias Jensen is hoping to be involved in the squad, but the likes of Nathan Collins, Sepp van den Berg and Joshua Dasilva are hoping to be available when the Premier League resumes in October.

Chelsea

After scoring six second half goals in the League Cup Third Round win over Leeds United and then scoring very early against Hull City, Chelsea fans might have been expecting another big win at Stamford Bridge last weekend. Things did not go as planned and Xabi Alonso's men had to scramble for a 2-2 draw with the newly promoted club.

That leaves Chelsea in 6th place in the Premier League table, but they have dropped points in each of the last two top flight fixtures meaning they have earned 7 points from a possible 12 available. The Blues face a third away London derby of the season and have a 1-0-1 record on their travels in the Premier League.

Chelsea have already beaten Fulham at Craven Cottage in one West London derby as they prepare to face another local rival on Friday night. The side have won 4 of the 6 games played in all competitions under the new manager, but Chelsea's last away game ended in a 2-1 defeat at Arsenal.

Marco Palestra, Moises Caicedo and Jordan Henderson are all doubts for this fixture. Reports also suggest Joao Pedro has withdrawn from international duty for Brazil with an injury and that means he has to be considered doubtful for this fixture.

Head to Head

Chelsea took four points from Brentford in the Premier League last season.

The game at the Gtech Community Stadium ended 2-2 when Brentford scored an injury time equaliser.

Brentford lost twice at home to Chelsea in the 2021/22 Premier League season as they returned to the top flight, but the last 4 here have all ended in draws.

Prediction

You can begin to describe Brentford as draw specialists having earned another at Bournemouth last week and there will be plenty of fans wanting to back that result in the West London derby that opens the Premier League weekend.

The last 4 between Brentford and Chelsea at the Gtech Community Stadium have all ended with the points shared and you have to describe the visiting team as a short priced favourite.

They were moments away from winning here last season before conceding an injury time equaliser, but Chelsea are still a work in progress under Xabi Alonso and the last couple of weeks have been difficult.

No one is going to be too concerned about Chelsea when they get forward, but they have been vulnerable at the back and this is a team that have conceded far too many goals already. They will give Brentford chances to exploit spaces and get into shooting positions, but Chelsea will also continue to pose plenty of threat of their own.

Goals are expected, but backing at least three goals to be shared out looks a short price.

Brentford will certainly feel they can do more than just play a part in this contest and they will look to exploit the defensive vulnerabilities with the quality they have in the final third. Showing a bit more composure when the opportunities come up may be key as Brentford have just not hit the target as often as they would like in the last couple of Premier League fixtures.

That should change against a Chelsea team that have allowed at least 5 shots on target in each of game played against Premier League opponents this season.

At the same time, Chelsea have got into very good attacking positions to test the opponent's goalkeeper and this looks like a fixture that could see the shots on target rack up.

Punters who prefer a short price can back goals, but there may be some juice in backing at least 10 shots on target combined.

This would have been a winner in all of the Chelsea fixtures against Premier League opponents this season thanks to the quality they have at one end, but the problems they continue to try and resolve at the other. Brentford gave away that many shots on target in one League fixture last week, but also saw 12 shots on target when hosting Tottenham Hotspur.

2 of the last 3 West London derby games hosted by Brentford against Chelsea have also reached this number set for shots on target and that looks the better play at the price.

The Pick :

Brentford 2-2 Chelsea

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Over 9.5 Total Match Shots at 1.91 with Bet365