Brentford vs Manchester City. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more

Brentford FC will host Manchester City FC in the English Premier League 23rd round match at the Brentford Community Stadium. The fixture will take place on Tuesday, February 6, beginning at 01:30 IST.

Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.

Brentford News & Current Form: 

Brentford have made a great start to the season. The Bees have suffered only three defeats in their opening 11 fixtures, drawing four times and winning four more. However, they have not been able to keep up the momentum. 

Since the middle of November, the Red and Blacks have been in a serious slump, which continues to this day. In the last ten games they suffered eight defeats, beating only Luton Town FC and Nottingham Forest FC – 3:1 and 3:2, respectively. 

In addition, a lot of energy and emotions they gave in the 1/16 finals of the Emirates FA Cup, when to begin with they played a draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers FC – 1:1, and the replay ended in defeat – 2:3.

The Londoners played a good match in the last round of the Premier League against Tottenham Hotspur FC, but still lost 2:3. The teams went into the break with the figures 1:0 in favor of the mid-table side. It’s hard to figure out what happened to Brentford in the second half, but they conceded 3 goals between the 48th and 56th minute. 

It was the 6th defeat for the club in the last 7 games in the championship. Because of such a series of unsuccessful games, the wards of Thomas Frank dropped to 15th place, and the gap from the relegation zone reduced to 3 points. 

Ivan Toney has made his comeback to the Premier League and already scored 2 goals in just 2 games

The Bees continue to concede a lot, but the attacking line has started to perform well in January. Including the FA Cup, Frank’s side have scored seven goals in their last three games. Recently, the long suspension of the club’s leader Ivan Toney has come to an end. He significantly strengthened the attack of the team and managed to play in the previous two rounds, scoring one goal in each.

Toney’s return is positive news against the background of personnel losses, which Brentford still have plenty of. Forward Yoane Wissa and midfielders Frank Onyeka and Saman Ghoddos will miss the game due to playing for their national teams. Defensemen Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry as well as forwards Kevin Schade and Bryan Mbeumo will not play due to injuries. 

In addition, there is a lot of talk around the London team about a change of owners, which does not add stability to the club and affects relations within.

Manchester City News & Current Form: 

Manchester City have already lost a lot of points in the course of the current championship. At the turn of September and October, the Citizens suddenly lost twice in a row to Wolverhampton and Arsenal FC – 1:2 and 0:1, respectively. The crisis seemed to be quickly overcome as they followed this up with three straight wins, however they then went on to fail to win in four games. 

It wasn’t until the FIFA Club World Cup that the Blues picked up a good form, which they still maintain to this day. The Mancunians’ unbeaten streak has already reached 11 games in all competitions and included only one draw – with Crystal Palace FC in mid-December (2:2). 

Since then, the team has managed to become club world champions, pass two rounds in the FA Cup and soar to second place in the EPL table. Erling Haaland and Co. have the same number of points as Arsenal (46) and are five points behind leading Liverpool FC, but have a match in hand.

In the last four rounds they beat Everton FC – 3:1, Sheffield United FC – 2:0, Newcastle United FC – 3:2, Burnley FC – 3:1, climbing to second place in the standings. Julian Alvarez did the double in the last meeting, with another goal from Rodri. In the 71st minute of the match with Burnley, Erling Haaland, who had been out for a long time due to injury, came on the pitch. At that moment City were leading 3:0, so Pep just let the Norwegian feel the competitive rhythm. 

Kevin de Bruyne has finally recovered from his injury and is back to the game

Erling should appear on the pitch from the first minute today – it will certainly add to City’s firepower. Liverpool do not give extra chances to opponents for the title, so the guests can not afford to lose points in the game with Brentford.

On the 26th of January, Manchester City visited Tottenham in the 1/16 finals of the FA Cup. The Citizens crushed the top-rated rival with their active pressing. The Spurs had only one shot towards the visitors’ goal for 90 minutes. As a result, Guardiola’s wards won with the score 1:0. Before that, Huddersfield Town FC were also defeated in the championship with a score of 5:0.

On New Year’s Day, the Sky-blues received the best gift of all possible – Kevin de Bruyne finally returned to the pitch. With the Belgian in the squad, the team of Pep Guardiola won 4 games with a total score of 12:3, and the redhead made 1+4 in these four games.

Brentford form guide: L-L-D-L-W-L

Manchester City form guide: W-W-W-W-W-W

Brentford vs Manchester City Head-To-Head Record:

• February 9, 2022: Manchester City 2 – 0 Brentford (Premier League);
• November 12, 2022: Manchester City 1 – 2 Brentford (Premier League);
• May 28, 2023: Brentford 1 – 0 Manchester City (Premier League).

Brentford vs Manchester City Predicted XI:

Brentford’s possible starting lineup (3-5-2): Flekken; Collins, Mee, Pinnock; Roerslev, Janelt, Jensen, Norgaard, Reguilon; Toney, Maupay.

Manchester City’s possible starting lineup (4-1-4-1): Ederson; Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake; Nunes, Rodri; Silva, De Bruyne, Foden; Haaland.

Statistical preview of the match Brentford vs Manchester City:

• Brentford’s First XI average age is 27.8 years, City’s First XI average age is 25.8 years.
• The total value of Brentford’s squad is 407 mln euros, while the total of City comes up to 1.26 bln euros.
• Jarred Gillet has been appointed as the center referee. The referee has already served 15 games this season, showing an average of 4.8 Yellow Cards and also whistles 21 fouls per game. 
• The guests go on a series of eight victories taking into account all tournaments and competitions. 
• Citizens distinguished themselves more than once in ten of the last 11 duels. 
• Brentford are allowing an average of 5.6 corner kicks near their own goal, while Manchester City are serving 7.25 corners per game. 
• Brentford collect an average of 2.3 yellow cards per game, while Manchester City collect an average of 1.6. 
• At least 3 goals have been scored, and both teams have also distinguished themselves in the 5 previous games of Brentford in the EPL.
• Brentford have a 14-match uncompromising series in the championship (5 wins and 9 defeats).
• Three or more goals have been scored in 8 of the last 9 games of the Londoners in the Premier League. 

What has been said before the match:

Gaffer of the Bees Thomas Frank about team’s transfer strategy and playing against treble winner Manchester City:

“Ivan will stay. I was pretty sure, and I said from the beginning, that I thought Ivan would stay with us, so I was not worried about that. But in general, it’s nice to know what you’re working with. At the end of the day, we decide if players can leave or not. Of course, money talks. And we also know that we are a selling club.”

“It’s part of our strategy that we bring young, talented players in. We develop them, make them better, they come on a journey with us and improve. Hopefully they do some fantastic stuff in the league, maybe one day win something, and then after some years, if they are good enough, they can progress to the next level.”

“City are flying at the moment, and they are on track to do the undoable – winning the treble again. I don’t think any team has won the treble twice, and it’s still possible for them. Pep Guardiola will say one game at a time, but they’ve got the best team and the best players in the world – end of discussion. Pep is potentially the best manager in the world.”

“It’s going to be unbelievably difficult for us on Monday night, but the good news for Brentford fans is that we have big belief and big determination. We know that we are difficult for any team to play against, even Man City. The percentages are against us to win the game, but we believe we can.”

Pep Guradiola complimented the opponent:

“We know in the past how difficult they have been.Even when we won, it was always tight and we lost twice last season. We know the difficulty for the way they play, the standards they have, they are clear and they believe it, they apply it really well. It’s another game to face and another challenge for us.”

“They have done really well, they have incredible strikers up front. Big, big compliment to them. I have a lot of admiration for him.”

“Ivan Toney is an exceptional player. Not just long balls, set pieces, penalties he is a guarantee, with free-kicks. For many things. They can link with him. He’s an extraordinary player. Happy he is back. Hopefully that period is forgotten for him and his life and his family. Exceptional players are always more than welcome in the Premier League.”

Brentford vs Manchester City Prediction:

Brentford proved to be an uphill struggle for Manchester City last season, as the Bees sensationally won both of their head-to-head encounters. Now the Citizens have a great opportunity to get revenge, as the teams are approaching the face-off in completely opposite conditions. 

Josep Guardiola’s wards have finally overcome all the difficulties, winning the last eight games in a row in all tournaments. The key players have recovered from injuries and have started getting back to their peak form, the team is confidently dictating the game while dominating the pitch, and it seems that there may be no more slip-ups on the way to the title. City have scored an average of 2.43 goals per game in the Premier League, conceding 1.1. Note also that in six of their eight previous matches, the Citizens have scored at least three times. In 11 games on the road of the 23/24 campaign, the Sky Blues have secured only three clean sheets.

The Londoners, on the contrary, are experiencing serious performance problems, which caused them to pick up only 3 points in the previous seven rounds. In addition to a large number of unavailable players in the course of the season, the main problem of Brentford in recent times is a particularly fragile defensive alignments (for the last four rounds of the EPL the Bees have conceded an average of three goals). At the same time, the offense is well functioning and produces goals in almost every match. All in all, the Londoners have scored and conceded a total of 22 goals in the last five rounds (4.40 average per game) – a very high figure by EPL standards. That being said, the Bees have been sorely lacking a clinical finisher, which is reflected in the difference between expected goals and actual goals – currently the xG indicator is 4.4 higher. There have been positive trends in this aspect lately, plus the return of key striker Ivan Toney gives hope to Thomas Frank and Co, he has already netted 2 goals in 2 matches. The Bees have failed to score in only 1 of the 11 matches played at the Community Stadium. In addition, the Bees have exchanged goals with their opponents in seven previous battles, which is why we may expect a goaltending scramble now as well. 

Parimatch News staff prediction:

We say: Both teams will score and the total of the match will be over 2.5 – Yes.

Don`t miss out 👉: Top 5 Goalscorers in the 2024 Kalinga Super Cup