Manchester City travel to west London to take on Brentford this afternoon looking to hang on to the coattails of the Premier League’s high-flyers.
City entered the weekend in seventh, five points behind league leaders Liverpool and three points adrift of second-placed Arsenal after beating Burnley 5-1 last weekend in a match that was harder work than the final scoreline suggests.
Pep Guardiola’s men then endured Champions League disappointment in midweek as Eric Dier’s controversial 90th-minute penalty earned Monaco a point despite the unstoppable Erling Haaland scoring twice more in the principality to take his goal tally to a faintly ludicrous 17 in 10 games for club and country this season.
New Brentford boss Keith Andrews had seen his side struggle at the start of this season, languishing down near the relegation zone, but an impressive 3-1 triumph over the hapless Man United last weekend came as a boon and they’ll hope to spring an upset over the blue half of Manchester today.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of the match.
When is Brentford v Man City?
The match is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 5 October at the Gtech Community Stadium in London. Kick-off is set for 4.30pm BST.
How can I watch it?
Viewers in the UK can watch the match on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, with coverage starting at 4.25pm BST on the former and 4pm on the latter. Subscribers can also stream the match online via NOWTV.
If you’re not a Sky customer, you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.
Team news
For Brentford, both Reiss Nelson (illness) and Fabio Carvalho (knee) are set to return this weekend. Meanwhile, Gustavo Nunes (hamstring) and Paris Maghoma (hamstring) are both back on the grass and Nunes could be fit for a place on the bench against City.
Bees boss Keith Andrews must decide whether to stick with the 4-3-3 that got a result against Manchester United last weekend or revert to the 3-5-2 that he has used against tougher opposition like Chelsea. Kristoffer Ajer would likely come in for Dango Ouattara if he decides on the latter.
For Man City, Rodri overcame his knee injury to play an hour in Wednesday’s draw with Monaco and may do likewise here but Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Abdudokir Khusanov and Rayan Cherki remain out until after the international break. Mateo Kovacic has returned to training but may struggle to be match-fit for this weekend.
Predicted line-ups
Brentford XI: Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, Van den Berg, Hickey; Henderson, Yarmolyuk; Ouattara, Damsgaard, Schade; Thiago
Man City XI: Donnarumma; Lewis, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Rodri; Silva, Foden, Reijnders, Doku; Haaland
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