Brentford take on Manchester City in a tricky festive midweek Premier League encounter at Brentford Community Stadium.
Victory would see Brentford climb as high as tenth, whereas a win would see Man City stay top but potentially move as high as nine points clear depending on how Chelsea fare elsewhere.
Team News
Bryan Mbeumo is a doubt for Brentford after struggling with a calf injury throughout their Boxing Day loss at Brighton.
Charlie Goode, Rico Henry (hamstring) and Mads Roerslev (Coronavirus) are doubts but Vitaly Janelt is ruled out after testing positive for Coronavirus.
Christian Norgaard is suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season on Boxing Day as Julian Jeanvier, David Raya (both knee), Mathias Jorgensen, Kristoffer Ajer (both hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (hip) remain ruled out indefinitely.
Man City will be without Rodri after the Spanish midfielder tested positive for Coronavirus and is self-isolating.
John Stones (knock) and Kyle Walker (illness) are doubts but Liam Delap (ankle) and Benjamin Mendy (personal) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- This is the very first Premier League clash between Brentford and Manchester City.
- Brentford won two of six previous top-tier clashes against Manchester City in the Old First Division between October 1935 – December 1937 (W2, D1, L3).
- Man City are visiting Brentford Community Stadium for the first time but have won two of seven previous away matches against the Bees (W2, D1, L4).
- Frank Onyeka and Pontus Jansson has been yellow carded in Brentford’s last two home matches.
- Ruben Dias has scored the opening goal in two of Man City’s last three away league matches.
Prediction
Despite suffering defeat at Brighton on Boxing Day amidst further Coronavirus issues, Brentford can take heart from their strong attacking display because they just lacked the final touch, whilst their defence was simply outplayed in the end with two costly first-half errors.
Man City meanwhile were simply ruthless in the first half of their Boxing Day win over Leicester yet Ederson’s goalkeeping did look dodgy at times which almost cost them a second-half meltdown, yet they recovered to snatch victory with two clinical goals.
Now if City come out and play with the same aggressive intent and quality but with better defending, Brentford will need a pitch perfect performance to just get a point but their work rate should hopefully make this a tougher game than many might expect.
Prediction: Brentford 0-2 Manchester City
Result: Brentford 0-1 Manchester City
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