Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke offered fresh chance to impress at Chelsea after costly Pedro Neto mistake | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has plenty of options out wide as Blues look to continue fine form

On a personal level, it would have to go down as one of the more costly yellow cards of Pedro Neto’s career.

Had the Portuguese not picked up a fifth booking of the season during last weekend’s 4-3 victory over Tottenham, he would surely have been spared a 7,000-mile Kazakhstani sojourn and joined the rest of Enzo Maresca’s regulars in Cobham’s comparatively mild climes preparing to face Brentford. Instead, suspended for Sunday's west London derby, it was onto an eight-hour flight and off into the cold.

To Chelsea, though, that the loss of their marquee summer signing ought to be only a minor inconvenience this weekend is testament to the way in which Maresca’s wide men have begun to dovetail.

Indeed, when Sancho was brought in on an initial loan from Manchester United on deadline day, while Raheem Sterling was shifted to Arsenal in a similar deal, many questioned the point, as if the Blues had sold an eggplant to buy an aubergine. Most suggested that, given the finances involved, Arsenal had been handed the best of the three-way transaction. It does not look like that now.

Though very much the collective third fiddle in a Chelsea attack spearheaded by the in-form Nicolas Jackson and orchestrated by Cole Palmer, the trio of Noni Madueke, Sancho and Neto have between them provided seven goal involvements in the Blues’s last seven league games, decent going since only two - at best - can ever start in the same team. The ability of both Sancho and Neto to play on either flank is keeping Maresca’s options open on that front, too.

Jadon Sancho has impressed for Chelsea

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Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Jermaine Defoe both felt that the second of those, which started the Blues’s comeback against Tottenham, was Sancho’s best piece of play since he left Borussia Dortmund to return to England the first time around and it is difficult to argue.

Madueke, meanwhile, was left out against Aston Villa last month and dealt a public challenge by Maresca, who criticised his attitude training and complacency after scoring in-game. The 22-year-old is averaging a goal involvement every half-hour across his three league appearances since.

In Neto’s absence, that form will almost certainly be rewarded with a start in tandem with Sancho when the Bees visit Stamford Bridge this weekend.

Thomas Frank arrives with his own collection of flying wingers, with Kevin Schade in his best spot since arriving at Brentford and Bryan Mbeumo arguably the division’s best forward outside its European elite. Indeed, Chelsea are the only club to have scored more Premier League goals this season.

The trouble for Frank is that his side’s home and away fortunes could not be more contrasting. No side has taken more points on their own patch (22 from a possible 24) but only Southampton have taken fewer than their one from 21 on the road.

The Bridge, at least, is about as close as Brentford have come to establishing a home not far from home. Three Premier League visits so far have all ended in famous derby wins, but none against a Chelsea like this.