N'Golo Kante will not feature for Chelsea, but Jorginho is available; follow Brentford vs Chelsea in our dedicated live match blog; watch free match highlights on Sky Sports digital platforms and YouTube channel after full-time
Wednesday 22 December 2021 18:44, UK
Team news, stats and how to follow ahead of Brentford vs Chelsea in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday; kick-off 7.45pm.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank says he has no positive Covid-19 cases in his squad ahead of Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final against Chelsea.
When discussing his team selection, Frank said: "We will put a strong team out, I don't know what Chelsea will do. We've not played for 10 days now. My idea was to rotate anyway but we will go to win. We'll be difficult to play against."
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has confirmed N'Golo Kante will not be involved at Brentford, with Andreas Christensen and Trevoh Chalobah also major doubts.
"What we did with N'Golo Kante for 90 minutes [against Wolves] was close to irresponsible," he said. "Will he be involved against Brentford? Simply no. We cannot do this and I will not do it. We will now give him time to recover and prepare for Aston Villa and this is the situation."
Jorginho is back in contention after testing negative for Covid-19, but Kai Havertz, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell will all again be missing.
Members of Chelsea's U23 squad have also trained with the first team ahead of Wednesday's quarter-final, although this will not include Lewis Baker after he also tested positive for Covid.
"We planned now a squad and we had some plans with Lewis Baker, from the academy, and now he's tested positive," Tuchel added.
"So we can now start from scratch, and this is what we do right now. We've delayed training until late afternoon. Right now we will prepare for the match to be played."
Follow Brentford vs Chelsea in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after full-time.
In the latest Essential Football Podcast, host Alice Piper is joined by Ben Ransom and Gerard Brand to discuss an eventful weekend of Premier League football, despite only four games taking place.
PART ONE | Was Spurs 2-2 Liverpool the game of the season? Why Liverpool's weaknesses make for an outstanding spectacle, plus analysis of Man City's 4-0 win over Newcastle and another slip up for Chelsea.
PART TWO | Arsenal shine again at Leeds, but do they really need a new striker given Gabriel Martinelli's form? Are Leeds in trouble? And would football really benefit from a Covid circuit-break?