Match Preview: Brentford v Manchester United | OneFootball

Brentford face Manchester United at Gtech Community Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime (12.30pm kick-off BST), live on TNT Sports.

The Bees lost 3-1 to Fulham last weekend; United beat another west London side, Chelsea, at Old Trafford.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know before kick-off.

Pre-match analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Reasons to be positive for United

The storm predicted by Ruben Amorim shortly after his appointment as Manchester United manager duly arrived. However, the Red Devils' early-season stats suggest a brighter dawn could be on the horizon ahead of their clash against Brentford this weekend.

United’s head coach copped plenty of flak after a first season bookmarked by a 15th-place finish in the Premier League and a Europa League final defeat to Tottenham.

Flux and change have been the norm during the Portuguese’s tenure to date, but there has been one constant throughout: his tactics.

Amorim and United are wedded to their 3-4-2-1 formation, for better or worse, and Brentford's challenge in the Premier League's early kick-off this Saturday is to exploit the system's weaknesses.

Critics of the approach have been quick to point out its limitations: the ponderous build-up play of the centre-back trio, a 'soft centre' in midfield and an over-reliance, creatively speaking, on captain Bruno Fernandes, chief among them.

United's inability to handle Brentford's intensity was patently obvious back in May when a Luke Shaw own goal, a brace from Kevin Schade and a close-range effort from Yoane Wissa earned the Bees a 4-3 win over their illustrious opponents.

An opening day defeat to Arsenal, a second round exit to Grimsby in the Carabao Cup and the recent loss to arch-rivals Manchester City have heaped fresh scrutiny upon United and Amorim. Yet, the numbers tell a more nuanced story.

The expected goals metric is very much open to interpretation, and United's under-performance of -5.98 xG this season looks unimpressive at first glance. However, the fact that the Mancunians have generated more expected goals (9.98 xG) than any other side in the Premier League this season speaks to the quality of the chances they are creating.

With a new-look front three of Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Šeško and Bryan Mbeumo bedding in, the Red Devils average more shots-per-90 (16.2) than any team in the top flight - the former Brentford winger currently leading the division for touches taken (144) in the attacking third.

A sub-plot to track on Saturday will be both sides’ use of long balls. Brentford have been one of the Premier League's most effective teams, in terms of knowing when and how to play directly, but teams have started to cotton on and bypass their opposition's press by going long.

Amorim's side embodies this growing trend, and United currently rank top in the Premier League for accurate long balls, the majority of which stem from goalkeeper Altay Bayındır, Shaw, the suspended Casemiro and Fernandes.

As Fulham manager Marco Silva noted after facing United last month, opponents who bypass Amorim’s back five and create overloads in midfield can find joy.

Brentford may look to Mikkel Damsgaard and/or Fábio Carvalho in those half-spaces to test that theory.

Scout report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Summer signings to help Amorim kickstart season

It is hard to spin a positive from the 2024/25 season for Manchester United. They will want to forget about it - and it is as simple as that.

Erik ten Hag had banked some credit in May 2024 after delivering a first FA Cup win since 2015/16, so he remained in the managerial hotseat despite overseeing what was, at the time, the club’s lowest Premier League finish on record - 8th.

But before the end of October, there was a parting of ways after United started with just three wins from the first nine league games.

Amorim was brought in as his replacement on 11 November, but he, too, struggled. The weight of expectation at the club is so great - particularly after several testing years - so there was pressure after a run of nine league defeats in 12 between December and February, and more came when his side took only five points from the final nine games.

Those streaks helped set another new record low finish (15th) and the club’s lowest points total since 1977/78.

The Europa League provided welcome relief. They won nine of their 15 games on the way to the final, but it perhaps summed up their season that they were beaten 1-0 in the final by a Tottenham team that had suffered similarly throughout the campaign.

“In this moment, I need a little bit of faith,” said Amorim afterwards. “If the board and the fans feel I’m not the right guy, I will go in the next day. But I will not quit again. I am confident in my job.”

There was a general feeling that the slate would be wiped clean for Amorim, to an extent, given he had come in mid-season and this was not ‘his’ squad, so to speak.

He was duly backed in the summer transfer window, with Mbeumo, Cunha and Šeško the key acquisitions.

As yet, however, there has been little to shift the mood. United have lost to Arsenal and Manchester City already and drawn 1-1 at Fulham.

A 97th-minute Fernandes penalty spared their blushes in a 3-2 win over Burnley, while they exited the Carabao Cup at the second round stage for the first time in 12 seasons with a shock penalty shoot-out defeat to League Two Grimsby.

A 2-1 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford was their most recent result, providing some positivity for the club.

Earlier this month, Sky Sports’ Rob Dorsett reported: “There will be no knee-jerk reaction or regular reassessment of the head coach’s future after every defeat - however loud the noise grows from outside...”

In the Dugout

Ruben Amorim

Lisbon-born Ruben Amorim started out in the academy of Benfica as a youngster, but was released as a 17-year-old, without having found a way to the first team.

He then moved on to Belenenses, in the same city, and made his senior debut against Alverca in the Primeira Liga in December 2003.

Over the next four-and-a-half seasons, he played more than 100 games for O Belem, and progressed through the age groups for Portugal, earning the first of 10 Under-21s caps. When his contract expired there, he signed a four-year deal to return to Benfica in 2008, where he was a regular for the first two seasons.

During his nine years there - which included two spells on loan at Braga and one at Al-Wakrah in Qatar - he was part of the squads that won three league titles, one Portuguese Cup, five Portuguese League Cups and one Portuguese Super Cup. He also progressed to the senior Portugal team during that time and earned 14 caps between 2010 and 2014 - and was part of the squads for both the South Africa and Brazil World Cups.

Amorim retired at the age of 32 in April 2017 and started in management the following season with Casa Pia in the Portuguese third tier until January 2019. He then returned to Braga to take charge of the B team, then the first team, but moved on to Sporting CP in March 2020.

In his second season, Sporting won the Primeira Liga for the first time in two decades and completed a double by lifting the Portuguese League Cup, a trophy they retained in 2021/22.

Spearheaded by Viktor Gyökeres, Amorim's side won the league title again in 2023/24, and they were top when he left to replace Ten Hag at Manchester United in November. The 40-year-old’s contract at Old Trafford runs until the summer of 2027.

The Gameplan

With Steven Railston, Manchester Evening News

Steven Railston, Manchester United reporter for the MEN, explains how Ruben Amorim's side are likely to look for Saturday's game.

"It is pretty obvious what to expect in terms of shape: a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2, but there are different variations of what people call it," said Railston.

"I would expect United to try and make a fast start to the game. They came out very aggressively against Chelsea and Amorim has discussed that with us reporters - the need for his players to be really aggressive.

"For the first time this season, we really saw that against Chelsea, in the way that he wants, so I would expect a similar kind of performance against Brentford."

Last Premier League starting XI v Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Bayındır; de Ligt, Maguire, Shaw; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Fernandes, Dorgu; Mbeumo, Amad; Šeško

Read our full interview with Steven Railston here

Match Officials

First Brentford game of the season for Pawson

Referee: Craig Pawson

Assistants: Lee Betts and Matthew Wilkes

Fourth official: Ben Toner

VAR: Andrew Madley

Craig Pawson is heading to Gtech Community Stadium and refereeing his first Brentford game of the season, when he takes charge of the Manchester United game this Saturday.

The 46-year-old has been the man in the middle for four Premier League games this season, giving nine yellow cards and one red card.

His last Bees game was the 2-1 win over Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium last season, when he dished out three bookings. They were three of 120 cards he gave in 31 games in all competitions during 2024/25.

Memorable meeting

Brentford 4 Manchester United 0 (Premier League, 13 August 2022)

Brentford beat Manchester United 4-0 in their first home game of the 2022/23 Premier League season.

Josh Dasilva, Mathias Jensen, Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo all found the net during a sensational first half at Gtech Community Stadium.

It was the Bees’ first win over United since February 1938 and it was achieved in some style.