Chelsea vs Brentford: A West London Derby Showdown

Chelsea’s latest reboot meets Brentford’s quiet certainty, and history is not on blue shirts’ side. Chelsea have not won this west London derby since Brentford’s first Premier League campaign; that 1-0 victory in October 2021, settled by Ben Chilwell, feels a long way off. Every trip across town since has ended level.

The contrast between the clubs only sharpens this time. Brentford lean on continuity and a well-drilled core. Chelsea arrive under Xabi Alonso, mid-transition again, trying to stitch together another new era.

Kevin Schade will not mind that one bit. Fresh from two sharp finishes at Bournemouth, the forward will fancy a tilt at a Chelsea defence still learning Alonso’s patterns and angles. Only one side have ever won the Premier League with a back three – Chelsea themselves, in 2016-17 under Antonio Conte – but Alonso’s version is built very differently, and his attacking structure has clicked faster than his back line. That leaves another stern assignment for Jannik Schuster.

The 20-year-old centre-back, in for Nathan Collins, was thrown straight into it on his first Premier League start and had to live with Bournemouth’s Evanilson at full tilt. He came through with credit, yet Chelsea’s movement will stretch him again. João Pedro has three goals and three assists already, though lingering doubts over his fitness could open the door for Danny Welbeck’s first league start of the season. If that happens, Brentford’s young defender faces a very different, more battle-hardened test.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Aston Villa

At Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, something has to give. Or perhaps nothing will. Nineteenth-placed Aston Villa roll into north London with Spurs, and between them they have managed just one league goal. Both are still hunting a first Premier League win.

The return of Pedro Porro is a significant boost for Roberto De Zerbi and should finally draw a line under the Archie Gray Experiment at right-back. Spurs have looked like a team built on sand. No starting XI in the division feels more unsettled; most players seem a mistake away from the bench, and the football reflects it. Safe passes. Safe choices. A side governed by anxiety.

James Maddison could jolt that mood. After two appearances from the bench against Everton and Liverpool, the injury-hit playmaker will be desperate to start, to get on the ball and drag Tottenham into something more ambitious. Whether the rest of the team are brave enough to follow him is another matter.

Brighton’s New Face

Down on the south coast, Brighton’s rise has a new face. When Fabian Hürzeler praised his team’s “well structured” performance after their stirring comeback at Old Trafford, he might as well have been describing Malick Yalcouyé.

The 20-year-old Ivorian arrived in 2024 after a brief spell at IFK Gothenburg, then disappeared into the loan circuit – Sturm Graz, Swansea – before finally breaking into the Brighton first team this season. With Jack Hinshelwood out until after the international break, Yalcouyé has seized the No 10 role and already scored twice in the Premier League.

Arsenal now stand in front of the division’s most prolific attack. Brighton have rattled in 13 goals in four games, and Mikel Arteta must account for Yalcouyé’s surging runs and sharp finishing as the champions head into a fourth straight away fixture. Brighton smell vulnerability. Arsenal know a slip here would echo.

Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko

At Everton, Vitalii Mykolenko’s resurgence is happening in near silence. The left-back’s early-season form has been largely ignored outside Goodison’s walls, and his critics are unlikely to soften. Yet at a time when David Moyes needs hardened professionals to carry a thin squad, the Ukraine international has delivered.

A new three-year contract in the summer, a visibly stronger frame, and a string of solid displays have underpinned four clean sheets in six matches. The lack of cover at left-back remains a glaring issue after Adam Aznou’s loan to Málaga, but Mykolenko – the more reliable defender – has calmed fears that his position would be a weak point.

Ipswich’s new forwards, Emersonn and Zian Flemming, will attack that flank and Everton’s defensive record. If Moyes’s side sign off with a win before the extended international break, this start, built on Mykolenko’s quiet graft, will look more than respectable.

Newcastle’s Matthias Jaissle

On Tyneside, Matthias Jaissle is not in the mood to bend. After Monday’s 4-1 hammering at Leeds and a growing injury list, the Newcastle manager was asked if he might consider a back five or temper his beloved “vertical” football when Hull visit on Saturday.

“No,” came the answer. One word, no compromise.

Jaissle wants his young team – Newcastle signed eight players aged 24 and under this summer – to stay faithful to the broader project in the post-Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon era. “It’s a brave journey the club is going on and I’m fully committed in that,” he said. One bad night at Elland Road, he argued, cannot rip up the plan. They expected turbulence. Now they must respond without losing their identity.

Nottingham Forest’s Liam Delap

In Nottingham, a £45m gamble is starting to look like a fit. Many scoffed at the fee for Liam Delap, but Nottingham Forest might be exactly where the striker rebuilds his reputation.

Forest flourished with Chris Wood – now injured – as their focal point, and Delap offers a younger version of that profile: powerful, instinctive, unselfish in his link play. In the win at Villa, he and Morgan Gibbs-White looked as though they had been working together for months, not weeks. They will both eye a Coventry defence that has leaked eight goals in its past two matches.

Off the pitch, Forest’s ambitions are growing too. The club were buoyed by local council approval for plans to expand the City Ground from 31,000 to 52,500 at an estimated £790m cost. After last season’s nerves, the mood has flipped. Forest feel on the front foot again.

Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola

Andoni Iraola’s return to Bournemouth comes with a twist. While his former club tasted European football in San Sebastián, the Basque coach watched from afar, now in charge at Liverpool. On Sunday he walks back into familiar territory.

Iraola, with assistants Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper – both ex-Bournemouth players, Elphick the captain in their first Premier League promotion – pushed the Cherries to a best-ever sixth-place finish and into the Europa League. That body of work earned him Anfield. The reception on the south coast will be warm.

Marco Rose, his successor, has endured a slow start, but Bournemouth remain awkward opponents. The German spent a couple of hours with Iraola before officially taking over in June, trading ideas before going his own way. Both managers know this will be frantic. Eddie Howe never beat Bournemouth in eight league attempts as Newcastle boss; Iraola and his staff will not be lulled by sentiment.

Leeds’ Dominic Calvert-Lewin

At Elland Road, Dominic Calvert-Lewin chases history. Leeds’ centre-forward can become the first player since Arthur Hydes in 1932 to score in six consecutive home league games for the club when Crystal Palace visit on Saturday.

The transformation began with a tactical jolt. Daniel Farke’s switch to 3-5-2 late last November gave Calvert-Lewin a partner – Noah Okafor or Lukas Nmecha – and suddenly the drought ended. He had laboured as a lone striker; with help, he has flourished. Leeds still toggle between 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and a back four, but Calvert-Lewin keeps underlining how much strike partnerships matter.

Eight points from four matches mark Leeds’ best top-flight start since David O’Leary’s 2001-02 side. Palace now stand between Calvert-Lewin and Hydes’ record. If 3-5-2 can unlock one forward like this, how many more strikers could be rescued by the same shift?

Manchester City’s Form

Manchester City, meanwhile, are gliding. Four games, four wins. A 1-0 over Coventry, another 1-0 against Manchester United, a 2-1 at Bournemouth and a 4-1 dismantling of Crystal Palace. Eight scored, two conceded.

Only Arsenal can really match that balance, with the champions also on 12 points, eight goals and just one conceded. The early signs suggest Enzo Maresca’s City will be serious title contenders. The structure is tight, the attack varied, the margins under control.

Régis Le Bris arrives intent on disruption. He can draw on last season’s meeting with City when, as Sunderland manager, he took a point off the FA Cup holders at the Stadium of Light. The return game at the Etihad told a different story: City cruised to a 3-0 win.

Now Le Bris must find a way to slow a side that rarely offers second chances.