Brentford vs Chelsea - Premier League LIVE: Jordan Henderson STARTS against his old club as Joao Pedro ruled out
· DailyMail
Follow Daily Mail Sport's live coverage for the latest updates as Brentford host Chelsea in the west London derby in the Premier League.
Oh wow.
Now, this is certainly something I wasn't expecting to see.
Xabi Alonso obviously loves a storyline because he is giving Jordan Henderson his first Premier League start for Chelsea against former side Brentford.
In fact, it's all change in the middle of the park as Valentin Barco replaces Reece James, while Danny Welbeck is in for the injured Joao Pedro up top.
Maxence Lacroix returns and Pep Chavarría starts.
Prepare for a lot of long throws, Chelsea.
Throw-in connoisseur Michael Kayode returns to the Brentford starting line-up as one of two changes.
He replaces Aaron Hickey at right-back while, surprisingly, Mamadou Sangare drops out for Mikkel Damsgaard.
I did not see that coming after the start to the season the summer signing has had.
FPL users, I hope you changed your teams in time...
Joao Pedro has been one of the stars at the start of this season, but Chelsea are going to be without him tonight.
Despite Xabi Alonso claiming Pedro may be involved tonight, even though he'd already pulled out of the Brazil squad, the forward has not even made the bench.
Personally, I'm glad because I swapped him for Yoane Wissa in FPL because I thought he would miss out. But yeah, a huge, huge blow for the Blues.
The rest of the team news is on the way, don't you worry.
Chelsea and Brentford aren't just close in physical location; they're hard to separate in the Premier League table, too.
I mean, just look...
They pair sit just one position and one point apart, with Chelsea ever so slightly ahead of Brentford in the league.
Whoever wins tonight will see them leap into the top four and close in on the top four.
But we have to remember, it's still early days.
Guys, you really have to make sure you enjoy the coming weekend.
Why? Well, it's the last time we will get to enjoy Premier League footie for almost a month. I know, crazy.
We are set for an extended three-week international break, which I just know will feel like an eternity. So yeah, we just need to enjoy the next three days of fun before it.
Here is what we have in store in the Premier League:
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
> 'London calling to the underworld. Come out of the cupboard, ya boys and girls.'
London has called all football fans, and we have all listened.
It's another derby day in the capital (I mean, there is one every blooming week these days) and this tune by The Clash has been in my head all afternoon. I don't know why; it just feels like it fits this fixture.
It's the battle of the west tonight as Brentford take on Chelsea in what is set to be an absolute cracker (think of this in Ant McPartlin's voice for humourous reasons, if you know you know).
These two teams are absolutely electric on their days; their free-flowing attacks are a joy to watch, and you just know they will go hammer and tong at each other.
Both are yet to lose this season, but it feels like one of them will lose their unbeaten streak tonight...
Strap yourselves in, it's going to be one hell of a ride.
People in this story
- Xabi Alonso
- Jordan Henderson
- Reece James
- João Pedro
- Danny Welbeck
- Michael Kayode
- Mikkel Damsgaard
- Pep Chavarría
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