Benjamin Arthur previews Brentford B v Chelsea U21s | OneFootball

Benjamin Arthur says Brentford B must “perform under pressure” as the side take on Chelsea Under-21s in the Premier League Cup at Wheatsheaf Park on Monday night (7pm kick-off).

The young Bees will welcome current table toppers Chelsea to Wheatsheaf Park for their final PL Cup Group I fixture.

Neil MacFarlane’s side enter their final group game knowing three points will put them in a great position to make it out of Group I and into the knockout stages of the competition.

The B team earnt a big boost in their progression hopes last Tuesday when they beat Bournemouth 3-1 away from home taking the side level with Chelsea on nine points.

The side have also been in fine form in the Professional Development League where a current run of 11 games unbeaten sees MacFarlane’s team sat top of the league.

Speaking on the side’s current run of form, Brentford B centre-back Arthur pointed to the mentality in the changing room as a factor for the side’s recent success.

He said: “There is a real feel-good factor around the group at the moment, the hard work we have been putting in on the training ground has paid off in the past few months.

“As a team we try not to dwell on results too much and I think this has been another reason for our success as of late, we are just taking everything game by game.

“Every player is always competing for their spot in the team, and I think this competition drives us all to put in the work and is in turn, producing excellent performances.”

The young Bees faced Chelsea Under-21s in their opening PL Cup fixture back in September.

Despite a positive opening half which saw the side go into the break with a 2-1 lead, Chelsea flew out of the blocks in the second half with the game ending in a 6-3 win for the Blues.

Arthur went on to explain how he feels him and his team-mates learnt from that defeat and believes there was signs that they can hurt this strong Chelsea side.

“The first game against Chelsea was obviously tough to take in terms of the result but I think there was valuable lessons learnt,” said Arthur.

“We played some brilliant football in the first half and even had some good spells in the second half, so I think this has given us confidence knowing that we can cause the Chelsea back line some damage with our forwards.

“The second half of that game showed us that we cannot take our foot off the gas against this side, and we need to be switch on at all times against a team of their quality.

"We are up for the challenge ahead of us and feel that we can get a positive result in front of our fans.”

Last time out

Brentford B’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth last Tuesday earnt the side another valuable three points in the PL Cup.

The young Bees made it three-straight wins in the competition and now sit level with group leaders Chelsea on nine points with the Blues currently topping the group on goal difference.

Iwan Morgan put the young Bees ahead at Wimborne Football Club in the first half with Kyreece Lisbie scoring a second-half brace to secure all three points.

About Chelsea Under-21s

Chelsea U21s have shown their strength in the PL Cup with the side leading Group I on nine points with a goal difference of +5 bettering Brentford’s in second place on +2.

The side are also looking strong in their league standings as they currently sit fourth in the Premier League 2 having picked up 22 points from 12 games.

The Blues will come into the fixture with confidence having already beaten the Bees 6-3 in their opening PL Cup fixture.