Why Chelsea's Premier League fixture vs Brentford kicks off at 7pm explained | OneFootball

Chelsea will host Brentford in the Premier League at an unusual time this weekend and the reason why has been explained.

Thomas Frank's Brentford make the short trip to Stamford Bridge looking to extend their unbeaten run against Chelsea in the league to six matches.

Enzo Maresca has been tasked with ending the three-year winless record against the Bees, with Chelsea's last league win over their London counterparts coming in October 2021.

Chelsea will face Brentford on Sunday evening in the capital, however it will not get underway until 7pm local time. But why so late?

Despite most of their first-team players who feature in the league being left in England this week, Maresca and Chelsea only returned back from Kazakhstan during the early hours of Friday morning after their 3-1 win over FC Astana in the Conference League.

The usual ruling is that teams who are involved in European action on a Thursday cannot play another match until Sunday at the earliest.

Despite afternoon slots being available - 2pm, 4pm or 4,30pm have been some of the Sunday kick-off times this season - a later kick-off slot was requested due to Chelsea's 16-hour round-trip to Kazakhstan for their European fixture.

As a result, Chelsea were offered the contingency kick-off time of 7pm, which was accepted.

Unfortunately for Chelsea fans in the United Kingdom, Sunday's London derby will not be available to watch live on TV after it was not selected for broadcast. Instead, the other 7pm match taking place between Southampton and Tottenham was chosen by TNT Sports.

Maresca will be hoping to make it seven wins in a row in all competitions this weekend. / IMAGO / Every Second Media

The contingency slot has faced criticism from the FSA, who believe the Premier League and broadcasters are taking advantage of the provision.

As quoted by The Independent, a spokesperson said: “The Sunday evening kick-off slot is really unpopular with match-goers as public transport options are limited and it’s no good for families with young kids. When the general slot was announced the Premier League told us it was a ‘contingency’ - but it seems to be getting used an awful lot for such a provision.

“A big part of the problem is allowing broadcasters to choose ‘conditional’ picks which are then moved when a team progresses in Europe. The Premier League puts broadcasters first by allowing them to select such games knowing full well conditional picks are very likely to be rescheduled again.”