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

Man City host Brentford in the English Premier League on Tuesday. The hosts dropped two points on Saturday and will want to get back onto a winning streak. The Bees have lost nine of their last 12 matches and are headed for a relegation fight.

Man City Form

City saw an 11-match winning streak ended on Saturday. They drew 1-1 at home to Chelsea as they had 31 shots and missed three ‘big chances. Since dropping three points at Aston Villa in December, they had won 13 and drawn one of four matches in all competitions with nine successive league wins.

They only allowed Tottenham one shot in a 1-0 FA Cup win, before winning 3-1 against both Burnley and Brentford. A 2-0 win at Everton preceded another 3-1 win, this time away at FC Copenhagen in the UEFA Champions League.

Man City Team News

Jack Grealish is out with a groin injury and Josko Gvardiol misses out with an ankle problem. John Stones is set to be recalled at the back in place of Manuel Akanji.

Bernardo Silva looks a certain starter after a big impact against Chelsea. Pep Guardiola may leave Kevin De Bruyne on the bench to protect him after a recent return from injury. Sergio Gomez and Mateo Kovacic are fit to play some part.

Man City Motivation

Guardiola’s side are playing their game in hand. A victory would take them above Arsenal and just a point off Liverpool before the Reds plays on Wednesday.

City will look to control all of Brentford’s threats on long balls, counters, and set pieces. They won’t care about a big margin of victory, just getting the three points.

Brentford Form

The Bees are not in great form at all. They lost five successive league fixtures in December and went out of the FA Cup in the third round, losing 3-2 away to Wolves after a reply. The return of Ivan Toney led to a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.

Successive defeats followed against top six sides, 3-2 at Tottenham and 3-1 at home to Man City. With some pressure mounting, they went to Wolves and won 2-0 with just 29% of the ball. They created five ‘big chances’ and had 1.94 xG in the win. On Saturday, they lost 4-1 at home to Liverpool but it was not a bad performance.

Brentford Team News

Wingbacks Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey are still out injured, and Ethan Pinnock has joined them on the treatment table with an ankle problem. Josh Dasilva is absent in midfield.

In attack, Bryan Mbuemo and Kevin Schade will play no part. Yoane Wissa is pushing to start alongside Ivan Toney in preference to Neil Maupay.

Brentford Motivation

The Bees will sit deep with nine men behind the ball. They will expect to have no more than 30% possession.

A point would be a huge and a narrow defeat may even be acceptable from this away assignment.

Key Stats

Man City have won 11 of their last 12 matches

Man City have lost 2 of their last 3 matches vs Brentford

Man City have conceded in 6 of their last 8 EPL matches

Brentford have lost 9 of their last 12 matches

Brentford have seen Over 2.5 goals in 6 of their last 7 EPL matches.

Verdict

City will surely bounce back to win this match, but the Bees are known to cause them problems. Guardiola will be happy to eke out any sort of three points here. The defence has been a bit leaky so both sides may be on target.

Best Bet: Man City win and both teams to score at 2.65
Alternate Bet: Man City win (-2 handicap) at 2.40
Goalscorer Tip: Haaland to score 2 or more goals at 3.00

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