Chelsea vs. Brentford Predictions: Havertz to fire Blues to comfortable win over Bees

The Premier League returns this weekend and there are seven games being played on Saturday. We have previews for all the big games on site and here we have asked @OddsT3rrier to select his best bets for the west London derby clash at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Brentford.

Chelsea enter the west London derby in fine footballing fettle, winning their last five straight games, and losing only one of their last thirteen in the league. Boss Thomas Tuchel seems to have somehow galvanised and protected his squad from all the noise off the pitch involving former owner Roman Abramovich and the ongoing takeover process. His team look a shoo-in for at least third place and an automatic Champions League spot.

Brentford meanwhile had been in absolute freefall after a brilliant start to their debut Premier League campaign, but managed a couple of wins over bottom two, Norwich and Burnley, to pull themselves eight points clear of the drop. Teams below them have games in hand however and boss Thomas Frank will be desperate to continue to pick up points. They may find it difficult at Stamford Bridge though. 

Tuchel may be without Christian Pulisic for this one after he played in the early hours of Thursday morning in Costa Rica for the USMNT. Frank is without Saman Ghoddos through Covid and Julan Jeanvier who is unfit.

I don't see this one ending well for the Bees. Other than two wins over the current bottom two, Brentford have picked up just one point in nine matches. Compare that with Chelsea who are absolutely flying - winning their last five, just three losses all year and are unbeaten at Stamford Bridge since the 25th September. 

I can't see anyway that Brentford can trouble the Blues here and the 1/3 match odds reflect that. I am therefore taking Chelsea on the -1 goal handicap. In layman's terms, this means that Brentford start with a goal lead. Chelsea will need to win by 2 or more goals for our bet to win. Spreadex are 23/20 on this market whilst others are odds-on, again reflecting the value on offer. 

The second pick is based on the shots on targets market and in particular around two Chelsea players, Kai Havertz and Antonio Rudiger. Havertz is undergoing the finest period of his short Blues career to date, thriving in a false nine role and keeping huge summer signing Romelu Lukaku out of the starting line up. Havertz has scored just six goals this season, yet has notched four in his last three games. He's also scored 13 goals in total for club and country. The 22-year-old German has upped his output considerably lately, with nine shots and eight on target in his last three games. He is best priced 15/8 at William Hill to have 2+ shots on target which in itself is a great price.

I've combined that selection with Toni Rudiger to have at least one shot on target. The wantaway centre-back is a constant threat. He ranks fourth in shots (32) for Chelsea this season and has nine on target in his 26 starts. He has registered a shot on target in two of his last four games and will likely get chances against Brentford's weak back line. 

The two combined pay 9/1 at William Hill and I will be having a small stake on it.

If following, then good luck and gamble responsibly.