Chelsea look on enviously as west London rivals eye European adventures

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Monday night sees Brentford host Fulham in front of the Sky cameras, with the two teams knowing they will enter the game as the best teams in west London, at least according to the Premier League table.

While Chelsea’s season continues to lurch from one disappointment to the next, their local rivals are both riding the crest of a wave.

Heading into the weekend, Brentford sit in ninth. The Bees are on their longest unbeaten run in 87 years, as close to third spot as they are to the bottom three, and with just four defeats to their name, the same as the Premier League winner last year, Manchester City. Manager Thomas Frank remains calm, at least on the exterior, stating “we have no concrete goal. We have the right to dream and we are happy with where we are”.

Fulham’s outlook looks just as rosy, boosted by the return of talismanic striker Aleksandar Mitrović and firmly on course to at least equal their best ever top flight finish of seventh place, a position that may yet equate to a spot in next season’s Europa Conference League.

Despite their ongoing woes, bookmakers predict it will be Chelsea who will reassert themselves as west London’s top team come the end of the season. The latest top six finish betting odds have them at 11/2, ahead of both Fulham at 14/1 and Brentford at 20/1.