After two wins and a draw from our opening four Premier League games, the Blues sit sixth in the table at this early stage of the season. A short distance across west London, the Bees remain undefeated, one point and one place below us in the standings.

Much has been made of Brentford’s prowess at set-pieces and in transitions under manager Keith Andrews, but Alonso insists there is much more to their game.

That makes them a dangerous opponent, especially on home soil at the Gtech Community Stadium, as we found out in our 2-2 draw there last September.

‘They do those things very well, but they do other things, not just the transition, not just the set-pieces,’ said the Chelsea manager.

‘It's a club that have developed their project and the game very well. They are very complete in many aspects, with the ball, without the ball.

‘And playing there, you see the numbers and they have great strength playing at home, so it's going to be a big challenge. I saw the game from last year, you learn from everything, and tomorrow is going to be a big test for us.’

Of course, we carry our own threat from set-pieces, with only Brighton & Hove Albion having scored from those situations more times than the Blues so far in 2026/27. That has been helped by the addition of Austin MacPhee to Alonso’s staff as set-piece coach for this season.

‘We want to have top specialists in each area in terms of the offensive part, defensive and set-pieces, and Austin has this great experience in the Premier League,’ added Xabi.

‘He's helping us a lot and we have trained like we always do to try to prepare for the games and knowing what we are facing tomorrow.’

At this stage of the season it is too soon to tell how the chips will fall in terms of the Premier League title race and beyond, even as the picture begins to take shape at Stamford Bridge and at grounds across the country. That is very much at the front of Alonso’s mind when he considers where his team stands so far.

‘It's too early to tell. For sure, there are Arsenal, Man City, they have won all the games so far, but there are still so many games.

‘I knew, but once you live it, you realise how tough each game is, how tough it is to win in the Premier League. You can't take any game for granted.

‘You need to give your best level because you get punished whenever you are not, and we have experienced that. But I think that there will be good moments for all the teams and bad moments for all the teams.’

Hopefully Friday night’s game will be one of the good moments for Chelsea, allowing us to bring three points back across west London to Stamford Bridge.