Brentford vs Manchester City preview: Pep Guardiola’s men aiming to win consecutive league games for the first time this season | OneFootball

Brentford and Manchester City draw the curtain on round seven of the 2025-26 Premier League season with their meeting at Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday.

Both teams were victorious in their last league outings as the home side claimed a 3-1 win over Manchester United, while the visitors made light work of Burnley en route to a 5-1 triumph.

Brentford preview

Needing to cope with some major departures both on and off the pitch, Brentford have made a relatively slow start to the season, but will hope their win over Man United last time out ushers in a strong run of results.

Igor Thiago’s first-half double and a late Mathias Jensen strike secured Keith Andrews’ most impressive result since taking over and lifted the Bees to 13th.

Having played out a 2-2 draw at home to Chelsea just after the September international break, Brentford now go in search of another positive result against a ‘top-six’ side, although their record against Man City leaves little room for optimism.

Since beating City home and away in the 2022-23 campaign, Sunday’s hosts have managed just one draw from the subsequent four meetings, and even that came via a late comeback back in January when Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard netted in the final 10 minutes to cancel out Phil Foden’s double.

Manchester City preview

Manchester City were closing in on a third straight win, but saw a lead slip away late on once again in Wednesday’s 2-2 draw against Monaco.

A double from Erling Braut Haaland on either side of Jordan Teze’s strike had Pep Guardiola’s men on course to leave Stade Louis II with all three points before Eric Dier converted a 90th-minute penalty to restore parity.

Nonetheless, City are now unbeaten in six matches across all competitions since losing consecutive outings against Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion.

With 15 goals scored and only four conceded in that span, Sunday’s visitors are gradually approaching their usual levels of performance, and this weekend’s clash is another opportunity to highlight how far they have come from a shambolic 2024-25 season.

Team news

Gustavo Nunes and Paris Maghoma are guaranteed absentees for Brentford here as they remain without an appearance this term due to hamstring issues

Reiss Nelson has not featured in any of the home side’s last two matches through illness, and the forward is likely to miss Sunday’s game as well.

Defenders Rayan Ait Nouri and Abdukodir Khusanov are both dealing with ankle issues, ruling them out of contention for City here.

Ryan Cherki (thigh) and Omar Marmoush (knee) should also miss the trip to west London.

Erling Haaland’s double against Monaco means he has now scored in eight straight matches for club and country, totalling 15 goals, and the Norwegian will have his sights set on delivering the goods once again.

Brentford Predicted Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, Van den Berg, Hickey; Henderson, Yarmolyuk; Ouattara, Damsgaard, Schade; Thiago

Manchester City Predicted Starting XI (4-1-4-1): Donnarumma; O’Reilly, Gvardiol, Dias, Nunes; Rodri; Savinho, Reijnders, Foden, Doku; Haaland