Brentford welcome relegation battling Leicester City to Gtech Community Stadium in a huge Premier League encounter.
Victory could see Brentford climb to sixth in the table with Liverpool and Brighton both not in action this weekend, whilst Leicester can go 12th with a win if results elsewhere swing in their favour.
Team News
Mads Roerslev is a doubt for Brentford after he missed their win at Southampton in midweek due to a hamstring injury.
Vitalty Janelt (knee) and Kristoffer Ajer (hamstring) however are both ruled out of this match but could return after the international break.
Thomas Strakosha (ankle) and Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) remain absent.
Leicester will be without defender, Wout Faes after he was red carded in their 3-1 home loss against Chelsea.
Jonny Evans (fitness) is a doubt but Jannik Vestergaard (personal) is unlikely to feature, unless the Danish defender is recalled to the senior squad.
Youri Tielemans, Victor Kristiansen (both ankle), James Justin (Achilles) and Ryan Bertrand (knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Brentford host Leicester in a 3pm GMT kick-off on Saturday 18 March at Gtech Community Stadium, albeit not live in UK.
Stat Attack
- Brentford are winless in three previous Premier League meetings against Leicester (D1, L2).
- Leicester won 2-1 in their only previous Premier League visit to Brentford in October 2021.
- Brendan Rogers’ Foxes have scored first in all three previous Premier League meetings against Leicester.
- Mathias Jensen has scored in three of Brentford’s last four home matches, except for a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace in February.
- Leicester have failed to score in three of their four league matches away from home in 2023 (W1, L3), only finding the net in a 4-2 win at Aston Villa in February.
Prediction
Currently sat eighth and with the two teams immediately above them not in league action this weekend, Brentford have a huge chance to put pressure on their rivals but they haven’t exactly performed well in their last two games yet ultimately were clinical to beat Southampton in midweek.
Now if they can use that result to build a new winning run after manager, Thomas Frank praised their “bounce-back mentality”, I wouldn’t rule out the Bees being in the mix right until the final weekend for a top-seven finish.
Leicester meanwhile continue to have end product issues because they otherwise did well to match Chelsea last weekend, yet just can’t seem to finish their chances which ultimately proved the difference so a positive result here is vital if want to put some space between them and the drop zone.
Brendan Rogers’ Foxes also can take heart from their form in this fixture with two goals in each of their previous three league clashes against Brentford, but it will take a huge improvement if they’re to repeat that form here.
Quite frankly my instinct is that unless Leicester can sort out their defensive issues and are more clinical, this should be a home win for the Bees if they turn up and play with the high-quality intensity that they are capable of.
Prediction: Brentford 2-1 Leicester
Result: Brentford 1-1 Leicester