Brentford v Man City – Preview, Predictions, and Best Bets

Brentford host Man City in the English Premier League on Monday night. The Bees have lost six of their last seven league matches and face a City side with eight wins in a row. The hosts have had numerous injuries and face a fully fit Man City squad.

Brentford Form

Brentford have lost six of their last seven league matches. In all competitions, it’s just two wins in 12 fixtures. December was a terrible month as they lost five successive matches with 12 goals conceded.

Since the start of 2024, it’s four matches played. They drew 1-1 vs Wolves in the FA Cup before losing 3-2 in a replay a few days later. A 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest ended their winless streak as Ivan Toney returned from a ban. In midweek, they lost 1-0 at Tottenham but eventually lost 3-2.

Brentford Team News

Wingbacks Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey are both injured but Sergio Reguilon is available to play at left wingback. In attack, Bryan Mbuemo is out long-term, and Kevin Schade is also injured.

Yoane Wissa is on AFCON duty with Congo DR as they play a semi-final this week. Frank Onyeka is involved with Nigeria at the AFCON too. Saman Ghoddos is away on international duty with Iran.

Brentford Motivation

The Bees would take a point in a heartbeat here. A back five and compact, defensive shape is expected.

If they fall behind early, this match could become about damage limitation.

Man City Form

City’s only loss in the last 21 fixtures was a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa in December. They’ve won 10 of their 11 matches since then, with eight wins in a row right now. After lifting the FIFA Club World Cup, they won 3-1 at Everton and 2-0 at home to Sheffield United.

They made light work of Huddersfield in a 5-0 FA Cup win and scored late to win 3-2 at Newcastle having trailed 2-1. In the FA Cup fifth round, an 88th-minute Nathan Ake goal saw a 1-0 win at Tottenham as they only allowed Spurs one shot at goal. Last Wednesday, they won 3-1 at home to Burnley.

Man City Team News

Pep Guardiola has every player available now that Erling Haaland is back. He may again feature from the bench in this one with Julian Alvarez leading the line.

Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, and Kyle Walker played no minutes in the win over Burnley. All three will hope for recalls here.

Man City Motivation

Nothing less than a win will do, to close the gap on Liverpool to two points with a game in hand.

They will look to dominate Brentford and should have some dynamic subs to chase the game in the second half if necessary.

Key Stats

Brentford have lost 6 of their last 7 EPL matches

Brentford’s last 5 league matches have seen Over 2.5 goals

City have won their last 8 matches (24-4 aggregate)

Man City have scored 2+ goals in each of their last 6 league game

Verdict

On current form and confidence, City will go to Brentford and win. Extracting value won’t be easy and it makes sense to check the starting XI before entering the Goalscorer market.

Best Bet: Man City win (-1 handicap) at 1.95
Alternate Bet: Man City win and Over 2.5 goals at 1.83
Goalscorer Tip: Alvarez to both score anytime at 2.15

James O'Connor

James is a football analyst who writes about the tactics of the PSL and English Premier League. He holds the UEFA A coaching licence and has previously worked for several clubs in analysis roles.Twitter: https://twitter.com/footy_analysis