Brentford, Chelsea and Fulham: What to expect from London-based sides as Premier League nears end
The Premier League is already at the business end and in about a month from now, the season will come to a close. The top of the table remains tight between Arsenal and Manchester City, while several sides continue to battle at the opposite end in a bid to avoid relegation.
For certain London sides, it has been a season to remember and also one to forget. Top bookmakers for the English Premier League might have predicted Fulham and Brentford’s current situations but no one could have seen it coming with Chelsea.
With less than 10 games to go, this article takes a look at the trio of Fulham, Brentford and Chelsea and what to expect from these sides before the 2022/23 season ends.
Brentford
At some point in the season, Brentford looked set to push for a genuine European spot but it is only an outlandish thought at this point. The Bees started the year on a strong note but have now hit a dry patch of late, failing to win in their last six games as at the time of writing.
Ivan Toney has been a continuous shining light for the club this season though, scoring 19 Premier League goals so far but most of his goals of late have ended up as consolation. Brentford currently lie tenth in the Premier League standings and their tally of 43 goals conceded means Tottenham is the only side in the top half to have conceded more than the Bees.
Brentford are in no danger of relegation, meaning they can play the remainder of their Premier League games with ease. With fixtures against Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City still to come, points might be hard to come by for the Bees but they can at least take on these games with a clean slate.
At best, Brentford’s remaining aim for the rest of the campaign will be to finish as high up on the table as possible. On an individual note, Toney will fancy his chances of hitting 20+ goals before the season ends.
Chelsea
Talking about bold claims ahead of the 2022/23 campaign, it would have been comedy to say that Chelsea would be in the bottom half of the table with less than 10 games to go. It is indeed the reality at the moment though, as the Blues are even way closer to bottom-placed Southampton than they are to league leaders Arsenal.
Todd Boehly’s new era was supposed to usher in another era of success post Roman Abramovich but it has been an awful run so far. Despite splashing out 600m on signings over the past 12 months, Chelsea have struggled as a unit and none of their signings have caught the eye either.
In fact, the Blues are yet to know their best XI at this stage of the season and that fact is highlighted in the fact that they have made 112 line-up changes in the Premier League – the most of any side this season.
For the first time in almost two decades, Chelsea face the prospect of finishing outside the top half and with no form of European football for next season.
The Blues have struggled to score goals upfront and their tally of 30 goals scored means they have only scored more than four Premier League sides as at the time of writing. Three of those sides happen to be in the bottom three as well.
Chelsea have failed to find any form of stability and this has crept even down to management level as well. The Blues have already used three different coaches this season and current interim-boss Frank Lampard – who is on his second stint with the club – is equally yet to win a game since his appointment early in April.
Players like Mykhailo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix to name a few have so far looked like wasteful buys. The Blues are reportedly nearing an agreement to appoint Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager, in a bid to get them back challenging again.
Chelsea’s decline is without a doubt one of the biggest shocks of the season and the Blues virtually have nothing left to play for between now and when the campaign comes to an end.
Fulham
Fulham were among the three sides to have been promoted to the league ahead of the 2022/23 season and many eyes were on how they would fare by the end of the season.
Just like Brentford, they also started on a very positive note and looked set to cause problems for teams this term. Buoyed by the presence of star striker Aleksandr Mitrovic, Fulham fans were dreaming of a top-six finish but fast forward to the present and it was a dream that was nice while it lasted.
Poetically, Fulham are just one spot and one point ahead of Brentford as at the time of writing but what were the odds that they would be ahead of Chelsea at this stage of the season?
The Whites endured a rough spell of their own of late, starting with a 3-2 loss to Brentford back in March, which started a negative run of five successes losses, including defeats to other London sides in form of Arsenal, West Ham as well as a loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
Fulham recently won against Everton and Leeds but returned to losing ways, having suffered a 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa on Monday night.
In the continued absence of Mitrovic due to suspension, the Whites can at least be proud of retaining their Premier League status and would now look to accumulate as much points as possible before the season ends.
