Chelsea vs Brentford; The FA Cup Fourth Round
Chelsea vs Brentford. The FA Cup Fourth Round.
Stamford BridgeAttendance41,042.
Chelsea v Brentford preview: West London rivals clash at Stamford Bridge
Saturday 28 January 2017 15:07, UK
Chelsea will look to keep their challenge for a domestic double on course when they host Brentford in Saturday's FA Cup fourth round.
Antonio Conte's men are eight points clear of Arsenal in the Premier League and brushed aside Peterborough comfortably in the previous round of this competition.
Fellow west Londoners Brentford, who are 15th in the Sky Bet Championship, will need to raise their game to topple their rivals, who have won their last nine matches at Stamford Bridge.
Team news
Conte is likely to rotate his squad ahead of two important Premier League games against Liverpool and Arsenal.
Cesc Fabregas, Kurt Zouma, Willian, Michy Batshuayi and Nathaniel Chalobah are all expected to feature.
Defender Gary Cahill could miss his first game of the season as Conte considers resting the centre-back.
Brentford boss Dean Smith has said 14-goal striker Scott Hogan is available for selection despite strong transfer interest from West Ham but has missed the last two games.
Opta stats
Chelsea have been eliminated just twice in their last 20 appearances in the FA Cup fourth round (Everton in 2011 and Bradford City in 2015).
Pedro scored twice and assisted another goal in Chelsea's 4-1 win over Peterborough in the third round.
Tom Field netted twice in Brentford's third round 5-1 victory over non-league Eastleigh. All five goals were scored in the first half by the Bees.
Brentford's last win over Chelsea came in February 1939 (D1 L4 since).
Chelsea have won 13 of their last four 14 matches in all competitions, losing only to Spurs earlier this month.
Prediction
Chelsea have got a couple of big games coming up - Liverpool away before Arsenal at home in the Premier League - but they will be too good for Brentford.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (6/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
All four Soccer Saturday pundits have gone with a Chelsea home win, which can be backed at 1/5 and surely is a must for all accumulators. Brentford are 12/1 pokes to pick up an unlikely away win at the Premier League leaders.
Chelsea and Brentford last met in the FA Cup in 2012/13, with the Blues needing a fourth round replay to see off the Bees. The game to finish 1-1 is also a 12/1 shot and 2-2 is 25/1. Fabregas is set to make a rare start for the Blues and he's a 13/2 shot to score first.