Manchester City will like to grab another win at home to climb up the table momentarily against the visiting Brentford team yet to win on road this season.
City scrapped out a 2-1 victory against Fulham at home despite being down 10 men with a late Erling Haaland penalty while Brentford were denied their first away win through an unfortunate own goal by Mathias Jorgensen in almost the last kick of the game for a 2-2 exciting draw against Nottingham Forest.
MCI vs BRE Match Details
Date: Saturday, 12 November 2022
Time: 12:30 (BST) / 17:00 (IST)
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
MCI vs BRE Match Preview
It looked like a torrid evening for Manchester City almost getting to the point of losing more grounds in their pursuit to the top of the table but then Fulham’s left-back Antonee Robinson softest of contact on Kevin de Bruyne let the Belgian tumble inside the penalty area for referee Darren England to point to the spot after a VAR intervention although the decision was debatable. Having denied a winner early in the second half by the technology, Erling Haaland sticks the penalty in the back of the net despite Bernd Leno getting a good hand on the ball to win it for his side. The Norwegian started from the bench as Julian Alvarez gave City the lead in the 17th minute only to see it cancelled ten minutes later with Joao Cancelo sent-off for fouling Harry Wilson in the box denying a goal-scoring opportunity giving the spot-kick for Andreas Perreira to calmly convert sending Ederson the wrong way. Despite being down to 10 men, the home side kept their ascendency and pushed Fulham back with their work getting rewarded at the end. Their 11th straight home wins in the Premier League was vital to keep the pressure on Arsenal who are not slowing down even though critics believe they will. City are maintaining a two points gap with the league leaders and again have the chance to overtake them at least momentarily on Saturday with a win against Brentford. Pep Guardiola’s men are playing a third home game in a week defeating Chelsea 2-0 in the EFL Cup third round midweek with Alvarez getting on the scoresheet again three minutes after Riyad Mahrez has broken the deadlock in the 53rd minute. They will desperate to pick up another victory at home to go into the World Cup break on a high and claim a third consecutive one over the Bees for the first time in ten meetings between them.
Thomas Frank’s Brentford are going through a rough patch at the moment with no wins in the last four Premier League games and also suffering a shock loss to Gillingham on penalties exiting the Carabao Cup early in midweek. Ivan Toney, who did not make the cut in the England squad for 2022 the World Cup even after making it for the September Nations League games, scored his ninth goal in 15 games all competition inside the third minute of the game at Community Stadium but the home side failed to deny a leveler from the opposition in the 75th minute and the loss in the shootout with Mikel Damsgaard missing the decisive spot-kick. If the Bees wanted a fixture to shed some of the disarrays, then it is not forthcoming before the World Cup as they make a difficult trip to Etihad Stadium to face the champions. Thomas Frank’s men have only collected four points in seven away games in the league till now with four being draws and the rest defeats. Only managed to score eight and conceded 17. Against Nottingham Forest last weekend, Brentford dreamt of collecting their first away win against the last-place team going down in the first half but managing to strike back leading 2-1 on the 75th minute with a Yoane Wissa lob over the stranded Dean Henderson after Bryan Mbeumo equalized from the spot. However, their hearts were broken as a scramble from a late corner by Forest led to a shot that unfortunately bounced off the body of Mathias Jorgensen to cross the line for an own goal before Jose Raya scrambled to save it from doing so. They face a dominant Manchester City team now who are the best in the division in terms of home form this season not lost here since February in any competition making it that more difficult for Brentford to pull an upset.
Recent Form (all competitions)
MCI: WWWWD
BRE: LDDLD
Recent Form (league)
MCI: WWWLW
BRE: DDLDW
MCI vs BRE Team News
Erling Haaland will be able to regain full fitness to start again for Manchester City after relegated to the bench in the last game spelling more danger to Brentford. Julian Alvarez started the last five games in all competition for Pep Guardiola’s men, scoring in his last three but the Norwegian cannot be overlooked as he is poised to add to his 18 goals tally in just 12 Premier League matches this season. City made a catalogue of changes for the midweek EFL Cup tie with Chelsea so all of them will return to the starting eleven including Joao Cancelo whose one-match domestic ban now cleared. Right-back Kyle Walker is called up by Gareth Southgate to the England national team for the World Cup despite struggling with a long-term groin injury that will keep him out from the last piece of club action before the tournament in Qatar. There was a positive update on Kalvin Philipps as the midfielder not only made the Three Lions squad but also got his first minutes in a game for the Sky Blues against Chelsea in midweek coming on as a substitute after recovering from his shoulder surgery.
As for Brentford, they will be without Pontus Jansson (hamstring), Aaron Hickey, Thomas Strakosha (both ankle), Kristoffer Ajer, Charlie Goode (both knee), Vitaly Janelt and Shandon Baptiste (both muscle), who are all ruled out until after the World Cup with injuries. Thomas Frank was relieved to call back Ivan Toney to the team in midweek after he missed the draw against Forest last weekend for an inquiry with FA and he will continue in the attack alongside Mbeumo with the rest of the first choices making the eleven against City.
MCI vs BRE Predicted Lineups
MCI: Ederson; John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan; Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden
BRE: David Raya; Mathias Jorgensen, Ben Mee, Ethan Pinnock; Mads Roerslev, Mathias Jensen, Christian Norgaard, Joshua Dasilva, Rico Henry; Bryan Mbeumo, Ivan Toney
MCI vs BRE Head to Head
Manchester City won the two encounters with Brentford last season with the Bees returning to top-flight football after 74 years. City dug out a narrow 1-0 victory at the Community Stadium through a 16th-minute strike from Phil Foden in the first-ever meet in the Premier League and then won 2-0 the reverse fixture at home with Riyad Mahrez scoring from the spot in the 40th minute before Kevin de Bruyne wrapped up the victory 20 minutes from time after the initial shot from Raheem Sterling’s was saved from David Raya following a defensive mishap in the Brentford box.
MCI vs BRE Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Raya (8.5)
DEF: Akanji (7.5), Dias (8.5), Mee (9), Henry (6.5)
MID: De Bruyne (9), Jensen (8), B Silva (8)
FW: Toney (9), Haaland (9), Foden (8)
Vice-Captain: Kevin de Bruyne
Captain: Erling Haaland
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