Brentford travel across west London to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday (3pm kick-off GMT).

The Bees have lost just one of their last eight meetings with this weekend's hosts, with the Blues currently three places and two points behind Keith Andrews' side in the league table.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: How Rosenior’s Strasbourg system could shape Chelsea

Keith Andrews and Liam Rosenior go head-to-head for the first time as managers this Saturday - with the new Chelsea boss having previously held the upper hand when the pair faced off on the pitch!

Andrews faced Rosenior just once during their respective playing careers, with Andrews unable to prevent Ipswich Town slipping to a 1-0 defeat against Rosenior’s Hull City in August 2011.

Having since hung up their boots, the pair are now making waves early in their managerial journeys. The Bees sit fifth in the Premier League, while Rosenior will make his debut in Chelsea’s dugout on Saturday, following an impressive stint in Ligue 1 with the west Londoners’ sister club, Strasbourg.

At 41, Rosenior is the second-youngest manager currently in charge of a Premier League club - only Brighton’s Fabian Hürzeler is younger - and this weekend’s clash at Stamford Bridge pits two of the division’s brightest young coaches against one another.

We’ll come to Chelsea’s numbers shortly, but what insights can be drawn from Rosenior’s time in France?

When he was appointed, Strasbourg were accustomed to life towards the foot of the table. Their first non-French head coach in over 20 years, however, helped guide them to Conference League qualification.

Clinical at the top end of the pitch, Strasbourg recorded the best goals-per-shot rate (0.15) in Ligue 1 last season, finishing with the division’s sixth-best attack, despite only three sides - Nantes, Le Havre and Angers - taking fewer shots.

Despite wholesale changes over the summer, Rosenior expertly maintained standards this term with an exceptionally young squad.

Strasbourg became the first club in the history of Europe’s top five leagues to field a starting XI entirely composed of players born in 2000 or later in their opening Ligue 1 fixture against Metz. Furthermore, their lineup against Monaco in late August had an average age of just 20 years and 283 days - the youngest on record in the competition.

Impressively, Strasbourg retained both their clinical edge and their capacity to generate high-quality shooting opportunities this season. Currently matching last term’s seventh-place finish, they rank second in Ligue 1 for both xG per shot (0.14) and shot conversion (13.98 per cent).

Rosenior impressed previously in the EFL with Derby County and Hull City, and his tactical acumen - coupled with his track record of developing young players - suggests a natural fit for his new role at Stamford Bridge.

Arguably the biggest challenge now facing Rosenior is coaxing consistency from the reigning world champions. Brimming with world-class talent, Chelsea can beat anyone on their day, but they head into Saturday’s clash having won just two of their last 10 Premier League fixtures.

However, he does inherit one of the league’s most potent attacking sides from set-pieces. Level with Arsenal and Leeds on 12, no team has scored more top-flight goals from corners, free-kicks and throw-ins this season.

Roared on by the Stamford Bridge faithful after two cup outings, Rosenior will be eager to kick-start his league tenure with a win, but Andrews and Brentford will be intent on making it a baptism of fire.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Chelsea enter new era following Maresca exit

Chelsea had a really bright spell throughout October and November.

In the Premier League, they won five of their seven games and conceded only four goals. In the Carabao Cup, they beat Wolves by the odd goal in seven to reach the quarter-finals of the competition for the third time in five seasons. And in the Champions League, they took seven points from a possible nine to move into the top eight for the first time.

“We are confident, we are doing well,” said Enzo Maresca after the 2-0 win at Burnley on 22 November, which lifted the Blues up to second. The Italian was later named Premier League Manager of the Month for November.

But in December, their form nosedived. They won just one of six Premier League games, picking up just six of a possible 18 points, dropping to fifth by 30 December. Atalanta came from behind to beat them 2-1 in the Champions League, too.

The only real highlight was the 3-1 win over Cardiff in the Carabao Cup but, even then, they needed two late goals from Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho to seal the win.

On New Year’s Day, Chelsea announced Maresca’s departure: "With key objectives still to play for across four competitions, including qualification for Champions League football, Enzo and the club believe a change gives the team the best chance of getting the season back on track."

The writing had been on the wall, not just due to the downturn in form, but after the cryptic comments he made after the 2-0 win over Everton on 13 December: "The last 48 hours have been the worst 48 hours since I joined the club because many people didn't support us." The reasoning behind the outburst was never clarified.

The Italian took charge of 92 matches in all, and left with a tenure just 40 days shorter than that of Thomas Tuchel, who was dismissed in September 2022.

Chelsea U21s coach Calum McFarlane stepped up to lead the Blues in the interim, overseeing a 1-1 draw with Manchester City and the 2-1 west London derby defeat to Fulham. By the time of the FA Cup third round tie against Charlton, Rosenior had been appointed as Maresca’s successor on a deal running until the summer of 2032.

“My whole life has worked to be a coach and, now, to be presented this opportunity at a world-class football club is something I have always dreamed of," the 41-year-old said, when he faced the media to announce his departure from Strasbourg.

An emphatic 5-1 win over the Addicks got the Rosenior era off to a flying start - both he and the Blues fans as a collective will be hoping that is a taste of what’s to come over the next five months and beyond.

In the Dugout

Liam Rosenior

Liam Rosenior - the son of former Brentford manager Leroy - started out at his dad’s former club Bristol City, for whom he made his professional debut in April 2002.

He played 27 times for the Robins, before he was snapped up by Premier League side Fulham in late 2003, and subsequently sent on loan to Leroy’s Torquay side in Division Two.

When he returned, he gradually found his way into Chris Coleman’s team, with his time at Craven Cottage culminating in a 2006/07 season where he started all 38 Premier League games.

Just 13 months into the four-year extension he signed in July 2006, Rosenior was sold to Reading. He spent three seasons on the Royals’ books and helped them to the Championship play-off semi-finals in 2008/09, though the majority of his final season was spent on loan at fellow second-tier side Ipswich.

A few months after his Reading contract expired, he signed for Hull, first on a short-term basis, then on a two-and-a-half-year deal. He ended up staying for six seasons, during which time he helped the Tigers to promotion to the Premier League and the FA Cup final, where they were only beaten by Arsenal after extra time. Three seasons at Brighton followed, before he retired in the summer of 2018, aged 34.

For the next year, Rosenior worked with Brighton’s U23s and showcased his tactical know-how as one of Sky Sports’ lead EFL pundits, before he took up the first-team coach role at Derby. That led to working as Wayne Rooney’s assistant, before he oversaw 12 Rams games as interim manager at the start of the 2022/23 season, when Rooney resigned.

A matter of weeks after he left Pride Park that September, he was appointed manager of former club Hull. In his first and only full season on Humberside, he guided the club to seventh, just three points outside the play-offs.

Rosenior was sacked three days after the conclusion of the 2023/24 season but, again, he was not out of work for long. Less than three months later, he replaced Patrick Vieira at Ligue 1 club Strasbourg, who he guided to seventh place in 2024/25. That led to a new three-year contract last April, but exactly halfway through the 2025/26 league campaign, he joined Chelsea on a six-and-a-half-year contract.

The Gameplan

With Bobby Vincent, football.london

Bobby Vincent of football.london has explained how the Blues are likely to set up for Saturday's Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.

"Nothing too dissimilar to how Maresca set up. Rosenior likes to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, but that shape quickly changes to almost a 3-2-2-3 when Chelsea have the ball," he told us earlier this week.

"One of the full-backs, usually the left-back, will advance up the pitch and slot into one of the no.10 roles.

"Rosenior is trying to make the Blues more intense, but in terms of possession, he wants his side to be controlled and patient in their build-up."

Match Officials

Brooks in charge at the Bridge

Referee: John Brooks

Assistants: Simon Bennett and Neil Davies

Fourth official: Tony Harrington

VAR: Stuart Attwell

John Brooks will referee his third Brentford game this season when the Bees travel to Chelsea on Saturday.

The Leicestershire-born official was the man in the middle for September's Carabao Cup victory against Aston Villa and December's 1-1 draw with Leeds United.

Across the 12 fixtures he has taken charge of this term, Brooks has handed out 46 yellow cards and two reds.

Last Meeting

Brentford 2 Chelsea 2, (Premier League, 13 September 2025)

Fábio Carvalho scored a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser as Brentford and Chelsea shared the spoils at Gtech Community Stadium in September.

The Bees went into the break ahead through Kevin Schade, following a superb ball over the top of the defence from Jordan Henderson.

Cole Palmer and Moisés Caicedo turned the game around, only for Carvalho to finish from close range in the 93rd minute after Kristoffer Ajer had flicked a Schade long throw to the back post.