Match Preview: Wolves v Brentford | OneFootball

Brentford face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon at Molineux (3pm kick-off GMT).

The Bees drew 1-1 against Leeds United in their last league outing, while Wolves fell to a dramatic late defeat at Arsenal.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Narrow defeat at Arsenal suggests Wolves may be turning a corner under Edwards

After their Carabao Cup exit to Manchester City midweek, Brentford's focus must snap back to Premier League matters ahead of Saturday's visit to Molineux to face bottom club Wolves.

This may sting for Wolves fans, but it's probably best to roll off their brutal statistics in 2025/26 at the outset.

Currently 14 points adrift of safety, Wolves have accrued two points from their opening 16 league games this term - the lowest tally in the history of England’s top four tiers at this stage of the season.

The Midlanders' previous coach Vitor Pereira bit the bullet in early November, and former Luton and Middlesbrough boss Rob Edwards has since presided over five defeats.

The young Welsh coach inherited a side with problems at both ends of the pitch and winless Wolves are currently both the lowest scorers (nine goals scored) in the division and the worst defensive side (35 conceded).

Carabao Cup successes over West Ham and Everton remain Wolves' only wins to date during a torrid season - but their narrow defeat at Arsenal last weekend suggests Wanderers may be turning a corner.

Although they left the Emirates empty-handed after a 2-1 reverse, Wolves showed plenty of defensive nous and resilience in a tight contest.

Trailing to their goalkeeper Sam Johnstone's 70th-minute own goal, the visitors thought they had salvaged a deserved point when Tolu Arokodare glanced home Mateus Mané's cross, only for another own goal from Yerson Mosquera to rob Edwards of a first point in the 94th minute.

They may be the only top-flight club yet to record a clean sheet this season, but Wolves became the first team to deny Arsenal a single shot on target in the first half in 2025/26. Edwards and his side will want to build on such positives.

Wolves' defensive numbers this term suggest they have to shore up in transition. A substantial percentage (26 of 35 goals: 74 per cent) of the goals they have shipped this season have come from open play, while - in contrast - only Brentford, Tottenham (two) and Sunderland (three) have conceded fewer goals from set-pieces this term than Wolves (four).

The tricky part for Wolves is how to tighten up at the back, while taking the handbrake off up front. Still in single digits for goals scored this season in the Premier League, Wanderers have the lowest total xG (13.73) and the league’s lowest xG per shot (0.1), and have also recorded the fewest shots (8.6) and shots on target (2.8) per 90.

On the back of Wolves’ promising performance in north London, Keith Andrews will recognise a potential banana skin when he sees one - and the Bees head coach will want his side to offer their hosts zero encouragement at the weekend.

Only Leeds (six) and Arsenal (seven) have made fewer mistakes leading to an opponent's shot than Brentford this season and Andrews will want his side to cut out defensive lapses and exploit the nervous tension both on and off the pitch at Molineux.

Brentford have shown a penchant for late goals so far this season - with 10 Premier League strikes from the 76th minute onwards - but an early goal would be very handy against a Wolves side which has lost every game in which it has trailed.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Wolves still searching for first win

Wolves have flirted with relegation from the Premier League several times over the last few years.

In 2022/23, they were in the bottom three for almost all of the first half of the season before Julen Lopetegui replaced Bruno Lage and steered them to 13th, yet only seven points clear of safety.

Things improved under Gary O’Neil in 2023/24, but started disastrously in 2024/25, with 11 defeats from the first 16. Vítor Pereira successfully completed a firefighting job when O’Neil was sacked.

At one point, it was more than just firefighting, though. Between 15 March and 26 April, Wolves won six games in a row, including against Tottenham and Manchester United. It was the first time they had won six top-flight matches in a row since September to October 1970. Survival was sealed with five games to play and all was well at Molineux.

Unfortunately, it was a false dawn - and it is hard to find any way to dress up the predicament Wolves find themselves in currently.

The sales of both Matheus Cunha to Manchester United and Rayan Aït-Nouri to Manchester City will have been a huge blow, but again it was a familiar story at the start of this campaign.

Following two points from the first 10 Premier League games, Pereira was sacked on 2 November, just 45 days after signing a new three-year contract.

"Unfortunately, the start to this season has been a disappointment and, despite our strong desire to give the head coach time and matches to find an improvement, we have reached a point where we must make a change,” said executive chairman Jeff Shi.

Rob Edwards - who played for Wolves from 2004 to 2008 and had a short spell as interim boss in 2016 - was tempted away from Middlesbrough and signed a three-year deal to return. “It has always been my dream to come back,” the former Wales international said.

It has been a baptism of fire so far. In his first four games, Wolves lost to Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United.

They are still the only team in the top five divisions of English football without a win to their name, and no team has ever survived in the Premier League with two points or less at this stage of the season.

In the Dugout

Rob Edwards

Rob Edwards had a 14-year career as a professional footballer that started with Aston Villa in 1999 and ended with Barnsley in 2013.

Largely owing to injuries, the centre-back played less than 250 games in club football, but did appear in each of the top four divisions in English football, as well as earning 15 senior international caps for Wales.

In October 2013, Edwards confirmed his retirement aged just 30, but returned to Wolves, where he first managed the club’s under-18s.

He later became first-team coach, then had a two-game spell as interim head coach following the sacking of Walter Zenga.

His first managerial job was at hometown club Telford in 2017/18, which preceded a third return to Molineux to take charge of the U23 side.

After he embarked on role in the England youth set-up, Edwards was appointed Forest Green head coach. In his first season, he led Rovers to the 2021/22 League Two title, but jumped ship for Watford just over a fortnight later.

He was afforded just 11 games there before he was sacked, but two months later, he took over at Luton and guided the Hatters to the Premier League for the first time in their history in May 2023.

Luton were relegated in 2023/24 and were on the way to a second when Edwards was relieved of his duties in January.

But after just six months out of work, Middlesbrough provided him with a return to the Championship and they were third in the table after his final game on 4 November, a 1-1 draw with Leicester.

Edwards signed a three-year deal to return to Wolves on 12 November.

The Gameplan

With Steve Madeley, The Athletic

The Athletic's Steve Madeley explains how Rob Edwards is likely to set up his side to take on the Bees at Molineux.

"Since Nuno, three at the back has become Wolves' general way of playing," Madeley told us earlier this week.

"Two or three managers have tried to move away from it, but they have generally ended up going back to it. Edwards has just stuck with it from day one.

"They have always had the three centre-backs and the two wing-backs, then there has been a variation between whether they have played two midfielders, one centre-forward and two inside forwards, or three midfielders and two up front.

"That is the shape and I would say generally under Edwards, they have tried to be a little bit more aggressive in terms of pressing slightly higher, though there has not been any dramatic change."

Last Premier League starting XI v Arsenal (3-5-2): Johnstone; Mosquera, Agbadou, Toti Gomes; Doherty, João Gomes, André, Krejcí, Møller Wolfe; Stand Larsen, Hwang Hee-Chan

Team News

Henderson and Thiago touch and go for Wolves clash

Brentford head coach Keith Andrews provided an update on Jordan Henderson and Igor Thiago during his pre-match press conference on Thursday.

Henderson and Thiago were not included in the squad for Brentford’s 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday.

“Jordan and Thiago both picked up little knocks against Leeds,” Andrews revealed.

“I don’t know yet, is the honest answer, on exactly how they are. They’ve been with medics today and we’ll see how they are going into the game on Saturday.”

Josh Dasilva (knee ligament) remains sidelined, while Fábio Carvalho and Antoni Milambo will both miss the rest of the season due to ACL injuries.

Frank Onyeka and Dango Ouattara are also unavailable due to their involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria and Burkina Faso, respectively.

Match Officials

Donohue set for first Premier League assignment of the season

Referee: Matthew Donohue

Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis and Steven Meredith

Fourth official: Andrew Kitchen

VAR: Neil Davies

Matthew Donohue will referee Saturday’s game at Molineux.

Donohue has taken charge of 13 matches this season, the majority at Championship level, showing 51 yellow cards and one red.

Memorable Meeting

Brentford 5 Wolves 3 (Premier League, 5 October 2024)

Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 in a pulsating Premier League encounter at Gtech Community Stadium.

Nathan Collins, Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Nørgaard and Ethan Pinnock were on target for the Bees as six goals flew in before the break.

Fábio Carvalho and Rayan Aït-Nouri netted late on in west London.