Brentford vs Manchester City – Match preview and team news

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·14 Januari 2025

Brentford vs Manchester City – Match preview and team news

Manchester City travel to Brentford tonight looking to make it four successive victories in all competitions.

Brentford were dumped out of the FA Cup at the weekend courtesy of a stunner from Plymouth’s Morgan Whittaker.

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Rico Henry started his first game since September 2023 against Argyle after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Ben Mee is also available again but fellow defenders Ethan Pinnock and Kristoffer Ajer remain out.

After being left out of the squad at the weekend, Thomas Frank confirmed that Vitaly Janelt and Christian Norgaard are ready to play.

Meanwhile, Manchester City progressed into the fourth round of the cup with an 8-0 demolition of League Two outfit Salford City.

Reliving memorable moments against Brentford ⏪🤩
– Selasa, 14 Januari 2025

Kyle Walker isn’t likely to be involved after the defender told Pep Guardiola he wishes to depart the club in the January window. Central defenders John Stones and Ruben Dias aren’t expected to return until the end of January.

Deals for Lens defender Abdukodir Khusanov and Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush are rumoured to be imminent. Both deals won’t be completed in time for midweek action, but are expected to be done this week.

Brentford vs Manchester City – Match preview and team news

Form

Brentford: LDLWL

Brentford’s only focus for the remainder of the campaign is the Premier League after they exited the FA Cup.

Thomas Frank’s heavily rotated side failed to breach the Championship’s outfit net and they were made to pay for their hesitancy.

Morgan Whittaker bypassed several red shirts before letting fly from the edge of the box and beating Hakon Valdimarsson.

The Bees have only won one of their last seven matches, albeit that victory was a dominant 5-0 dismantling of Southampton.

The Gtech Community Stadium was a fortress in the first half of the campaign, but that loss to Plymouth was their third consecutive home defeat.

Manchester City: LDWWW

City breezed into the fourth round of the FA Cup at the weekend as they thrashed Salford 8-0 at the Etihad Stadium.

Academy graduate James McAtee recorded his first senior hat-trick while Nico O’Reilly and Divin Mubama scored their first goals for the club.

Pep Guardiola’s side have seemingly rediscovered their productive form from the start of the season.

Prior to their hammering of Salford, Pep Guardiola’s side comprehensively defeated West Ham 4-1 in Manchester. The defeat ended up being Julen Lopetegui’s last game in charge.

Last Meeting: Manchester City 2-1 Brentford, Premier League, 14th September 2024

Manchester City triumphed over Brentford in the last meeting courtesy of an Erling Haaland brace.

But it was the visitors who flew out of the traps and struck first within 25 seconds. John Stones and Ederson made a mess of clearing Keane Lewis-Potter’s effort which presented Yoane Wissa with an unattended net to head into.

Brentford almost doubled their lead minutes later but Nathan Collins could only direct a corner into the hands of Manchester City’s goalkeeper.

City eventually responded as a shot from Erling Haaland deflected off Ethan Pinnock and past Mark Flekken to level matters.

The comeback was completed just after the half hour mark as a result of classic ‘route one’ football. Ederson drilled a raking ball over every outfield player except Haaland who raced clear before chipping into the bottom corner. That was the Norwegian’s ninth Premier League goal in just his fourth appearance of the campaign.

Haaland had chances to record a third consecutive hat-trick but Flekken managed to tip a rasping strike over the crossbar. The Dutch stopper also denied Savinho before the City goal scorer rattled the woodwork. Brentford could not find an equaliser and returned to the capital with nothing to show for their early endeavour.

Predicted Lineups

Brentford: Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter; Mbeumo, Janelt, Norgaard, Damsgaard; Wissa, Schade.

Manchester City: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Savinho, Silva, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Doku; Haaland.

Who is the referee?

Anthony Taylor will be the match official. He will be assisted by Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn while Will Finnie will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Peter Bankes and he will be assisted by Eddie Smart.