West London watch: How Brentford, Chelsea and Fulham have kicked off the Premier League season

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We are eight games into the new Premier League season at the time of writing, and the table is starting to take shape. The three West London outfits have had mixed starts to the campaign, so let’s take a closer look—and if you’re following the action closely, now is also a good time to check out free bets to make the most of the upcoming fixtures.

Chelsea
Crowned Club World Cup winners over the summer and backed by another transfer window of mass spending from Todd Boehly—bringing in the likes of Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens, and Alejandro Garnacho for over £300 million—Chelsea fans went into the new Premier League season full of hope.

However, Enzo Maresca’s side have struggled with consistency. They have drawn with Crystal Palace and Brentford, suffered defeats to Manchester United and Brighton, but also recorded wins over Fulham, West Ham, champions Liverpool and struggling Nottingham Forest. 

Sitting fifth in the table, the Blues are not out of the race for a Champions League spot, but they need to string together a solid run of results to build on their two wins in a row—which could be possible with Sunderland, Wolves and Burnley amongst their upcoming league games.

Fulham
After finishing 11th last season, Fulham fans were hoping for another strong campaign. So far, Marco Silva’s men have been somewhat disappointing, currently sitting 14th with just eight points from eight games—two wins, two draws, and four defeats.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that the Cottagers have struggled, considering the limited spending by the club over the summer. Still, if they are dragged into a relegation battle, it would be far from ideal. 

Fulham have a mixed run of upcoming fixtures, including winnable home games against Wolves and Sunderland, but tough clashes with Tottenham, and Manchester City will test them further after their recent defeat at home to Arsenal.

To make matters worse, Silva is starting to be heavily linked with a move away from Fulham. He was one of the names in the running to replace Ange Postecoglou at Nottingham Forest, and if things keep going the way they are, he may be tempted by the next opening.  

Brentford
This season was always going to be a testing one for Brentford. The Bees had established themselves as a comfortable Premier League side under Thomas Frank, but the summer brought major upheaval. 

Frank departed for Tottenham, while key players Bryan Mbuemo, Yoane Wissa, and Christian Norgaard moved to Manchester United, Newcastle United, and Arsenal, respectively.

Set-piece coach Keith Andrews was promoted to head coach, but results have been underwhelming: two wins, one draw, and four defeats so far. Andrews is now under increased pressure, though it’s difficult to place all the blame on him, given the squad turnover and challenges he’s inherited.

Brentford don’t have it easy either, with Liverpool (H), Crystal Palace (A), Newcastle (H), Arsenal (A) and Spurs (H) in their next seven games. It will be interesting to see if Andrews can survive until Christmas. 

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*All stats correct at the time of writing.