Analysing Brentford ahead of our Premier League clash

An in-depth look at Brentford ahead of this weekend’s meeting…

We travel to the Gtech Community Stadium in west London for a 16:30 (UK) kick-off as our seventh Premier League assignment of the season.

Three wins and a draw have taken us to 10 points at this stage, while our hosts have amassed seven points themselves.

With the help of Opta data, we assess the challenge of Keith Andrews’ side.

Recent form

The Bees sit 13th in the embryonic Premier League table after wins against Manchester United and Aston Villa and a draw with Chelsea.

Their defeats have come against Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Fulham.

They have won four of their last six Premier League home games, scoring at least twice in five of those matches. This comes after an eight-game winless run at the Gtech.

Preferred formation

Brentford have been fluid with their formations early in the season, playing both 5-3-2 and 4-2-3-1 in recent weeks.

Last week’s recipe for success came with four at the back, two defensive midfielders and three in support of a central striker.

Whether Andrews elects to play with what could be considered that attacking intent or the slightly more defensive 5-3-2 remains to be seen.

Transfer activity

The summer was one full of change for Brentford, with long term manager Thomas Frank moving on to take charge of Spurs.

Their two chief goal threats – Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa - also found pastures new as well as captain Christian Norgaard and goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

That led many to believe they may struggle this season, but so far they are defying those early predictions.

New boss Andrews was already at the Club last season as their set piece coach and stepped up to the top job in the off season.

Experienced midfielder Jordan Henderson, goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, full-back Michael Kayode and winger Dango Ouattara all arrived this summer and have become important to Andrews early on.

WATCH: Brentford 2-2 City: Brief match highlights

Manager

Andrews had a long career as an energetic box-to-box midfielder throughout the EFL and Premier League, spending time at the likes of Wolves, Blackburn Rovers and Brighton amongst several others.

He also earned 35 international caps for Republic of Ireland.

Since retiring in 2015, he’s worked as an assistant at MK Dons and with the Irish national team before a spell at Sheffield United.

He was appointed Brentford’s set piece coach in the summer of 2024 and worked under Frank for a season before taking the hot seat himself.

Now six games into life as a Premier League manager, there’s a gulf in experience between Andrews and Pep Guardiola – not that that will perturb our opposition boss this weekend.

How they score their goals

It’s now 13 Premier League games since Brentford last failed to score.

Their nine goals so far is the sixth best in the division, while their xG of 8.0 means they are slightly outperforming as you’d expect them to in front of goal.

Given Andrews’ history as set piece coach, you may expect Brentford to excel from a dead ball but they’ve scored just two of their goals via that method so far.

We should still be prepared for a bombardment of long throws, corners and free kicks into the box of course.

Igor Thiago is Brentford’s leading scorer and one of three players in joint-second in the league, with four strikes. Erling Haaland, of course, leads the way with eight.

City (18.4%) and Brentford (17.7%) have the two highest shot conversion rates in the Premier League this season. The Bees have had the joint-fewest shots so far this term (51).

Both Brentford and City lead the way in goals from fast breaks in the Premier League this season (3 each), with two of the Bees’ coming against Manchester United in their last match.

How they defend

It’s four games since Brentford last kept a clean sheet, coming against Aston Villa on the second weekend of the season.

Their 11 goals conceded from six matches is the 16th best in the top-flight, while the 85 shots on their goal is the second most any side have allowed.

Whether it’s five at the back or four, City will be hoping to take advantage of that perceived weakness.

Head-to-head record

In the four full seasons since Brentford’s arrival to the top tier, City have won five of the eight matches.

We’ve lost just one of our four trips to the Gtech, coming after already sealing the title in 2022/23.

We’ve scored six times at the Gtech, with Phil Foden netting all of them. He loves playing Brentford!