Chelsea 0-0 Brentford – Premier League LIVE: Noni Madueke strikes the woodwork with brilliant curling effort as Blues make fast start against Bees at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea fully on top and it’s Raheem Sterling who goes close this time.

Finding room on the right-hand side of the box, but his shot is blasted over the bar

Another opening for Chelsea, as Cole Palmer floats a ball into the box which finds Marc Cucurella’s well-timed run.

But the Spanish defender’s first-time effort goes straight at Flekken.

It’s been a fast-paced start at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea asking the most questions in this opening 15 minutes.

Great tempo to this contest and it’s Chelsea again who almost open the scoring.

Conor Gallager’s shot sees Mark Flekken having to prevent the home side from taking the lead.

Chelsea stretch Brentford again and find Noni Madueke at the edge of the box.

His shot from the right side curls past the goalie and then crashes off the cross bar

Nicolas Jackson is looking lively and has used his speed to good effect early on.

He finds some room at the edge of the box, but his shot goes wide of the Brentford post.

First threat of the afternoon as Chelsea coutner attack from the Brentford area with Jackson and Sterling.

But Cole Palmer can’t find a Blues shirt with the final ball.

This is the first Chelsea game Enzo Fernandez has missed since he made his debut for the Blues in January.

Will they miss him today?

Brentford get us underway, and here we go….

There’s a minutes applause in tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton at Stamford Bridge.

The teams are lining up on the pitch as we are set to go in this west London derby.

The Bees looking to make it back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

We’re 15 mins from kick-off, who do you fancy to come out on top in this one?

The teams are out warming up as Brentford look to continue their good record against their rivals.

Pochettino has also been speaking about Nicolas Jackson’s return and how they will play in attack.

On starting Jackson, he told TNT Sports…

‘I think it was an easy decision. Nico [Jackson] is much better after his recovery and he is ready to start the game.’

Cole [Palmer] is going to adopt a different position that suits the team but I was happy with the performance against Arsenal. He knows the role from his time playing at the Man City academy, and I think he will play well for us there.’

Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk’s names were a surprise omission from the Chelsea team, but boss Mauricio Pochettino confirms both miss today’s game with “small muscle strains”.

He told TNT Sports; ‘Both of them felt a small muscle strain yesterday, but I hope they will be available for the next game. It’s not a big issue, should be fixed in the next few days. We are going to miss both of them as they are very good players, but we have a very big squad to cope with that.

‘Yes maybe [the arrival of the new baby for Enzo Fernandez] was the reason he could not train and felt uncomfortable yesterday. But he is going to rest now and recover as quick as possible.’

The Chelsea team arrived at the stadium through a tunnel of fans, and they come into the game having scored 8 goals in their last three games.

The Bees make two changes from the win over Burnley.

Aaron Hickey returns from a one-match ban, while defender Mads Roerslev replaces forward Neal Maupay. Frank Onyeka drops to the bench.

The Blues make three changes to the team that drew with Arsenal last weekend, with Nicolas Jackson making his first start since September after injury.

Axel Disasi and Noni Madueke also return to the starting XI, but Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk are not in the squad.

Welcome to today’s live coverage of the west London derby between Chelsea and Brentford at Stamford Bridge, in today’s Premier League lunchtime kick-off.