Chelsea face Brentford this Sunday evening in a London derby with significant implications for their Premier League title challenge.

While Brentford have been a thorn in Chelsea’s side, winning their last three encounters at Stamford Bridge, pundit Chris Sutton is confident Chelsea will prevail this time around.

Chris Sutton praised the Blues’ recent form and confidence under manager Enzo Maresca: “I really can’t see past a Chelsea win here, with Cole Palmer’s Panenka penalty against Tottenham illustrating how high their confidence is. The way they are playing, they are definitely title contenders no matter how many times their manager Enzo Maresca denies it.”

However, Sutton also raised concerns about the late kick-off time, introduced to give teams extra rest after European fixtures:
“It will be odd for fans to have a game starting so late on a Sunday night. The Premier League might have opened a can of worms here. All teams like to complain about not getting enough rest, especially over Christmas, so they probably need to come up with a minimum time period that teams should have between games and stick to it.”
Sutton predicted a 2-1 victory for Chelsea.