Chelsea and Moises Caicedo will be worried as Premier League make official announcement ahead of Brentford

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Chelsea make the short trip to Brentford on Sunday afternoon for another important game.

The Blues beat Tottenham 1-0 on Thursday night in the Premier League, and now they’ll look to follow that up just a few days later with another three points away to Brentford.

Even though Enzo Maresca’s side went into the weekend sitting fourth in the Premier League table, the pressure is firmly on because several clubs are fighting for Champions League qualification.

Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo, 23, is certainly a big talking point going into the Brentford clash.

First and foremost, Blues supporters are still waiting for clarification that he’ll be available to play.

Unfortunately, Caicedo was spotted limping down the tunnel straight after beating Spurs. It’s encouraging that the key defensive midfielder completed the full 90 minutes, but let’s wait and see if he’s passed fit for Sunday.

If the Ecuador international can play versus Brentford, it turns out he could have one thing to be concerned about.

• READ MORE: Paul Merson and Chris Sutton in total agreement on Chelsea vs Brentford prediction as ‘issue’ raised

Michael Oliver appointment as referee could be bad news for Moises Caicedo as he fights to avoid suspension

It’s been announced via the Premier League’s official website that experienced official Michael Oliver, 40, will be the referee for Brentford against Chelsea on Sunday. Incidentally, Stuart Attwell will be on VAR.

His appointment as the match official should worry Chelsea because his record this season of handing out bookings is quite high.

Earlier in the season, Oliver was in Chelsea’s bad books because of a VAR decision he made at Stockley Park during a 2-0 defeat to Ipswich Town. If he’s the referee that leads to Caicedo receiving a two-game suspension, he’ll be even more unpopular with Blues supporters.

Caicedo has been walking a tightrope for a while, knowing that he’s one league booking away from his 10th of the season, which would result in a two-game ban.

The all-action midfielder has safely navigated games against Leicester City, Arsenal and Tottenham without being booked. However, it may be a concern to see Oliver refereeing the next match given his record of dishing out yellow cards.

Caicedo only needs to get through the next two games against Brentford and Ipswich Town before the yellow card threshold is pushed up to 15 bookings.

At this stage of the season, it would be a catastrophe to lose Caicedo for a couple of top-flight games because he’s been outstanding under Maresca.

Enzo Maresca should look at Chelsea’s discipline

As a collective, Chelsea have collected 84 yellow cards in 30 Premier League games so far this season, which is the most across the entire division.

The list of Blues players with five or more bookings this year is pretty long:

Chelsea’s poor record of yellow cards means they hit 100+ bookings in both 2023 and 2024.

While it’s not the most important part of a football match, discipline is definitely something they should look to improve on as a group.