Man City vs Brentford LIVE: Team news and line-ups from crucial Premier League clash – UK Times

Brentford XI: Kelleher; Hickey, Collins, Ajer, Kayode; Jensen, Yarmoliuk, Damsgaard; Lewis-Potter, Thiago, Schade

Man City XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Guehi, Ake, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Reijnders; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland

Pep Guardiola was very complimentary of Brentford boss Keith Andrews who replaced Thomas Frank at the start of the season.

“It’s not easy to replace Thomas [Frank],” he said.

“Incredible season, clear what they do and difficult to challenge them but at the same time, we have three games left at the Etihad and we’ll go for it.”

“It’s focusing on every game,” said Man City midfielder Rayan Cherki. “To be determined every second of the week, every moment we’re on the pitch, so that we can improve and be even better at the weekend.

“We’re taking match after match, we’re determined and the aim is to win as many games as possible. We know that the Premier League is not an easy league.

“It’s complicated and so that means what we never give up and the aim is to get as many points as we can between now and the end of the season.

“As long as there’s hope, there’s life, so we’re not going to give up.”

The Spaniard has been missing since picking up a groin injury in the 2-1 win over Arsenal on 19 April, with City suffering in his absence as they dropped crucial points at Everton on Monday.

“It’s true that working with Pep is extraordinary because he has a vision of football that is very similar to mine,” Man City midfielder Rayan Cherki said.

“Always having the ball, always wanting to attack, always wanting to create. So, it’s really extraordinary to work with him.

“Pep gives us a lot of freedom to express everything we want, all our talents on the pitch.

“Defensively, we try to produce a team effort and then offensively, we try to express our talents all together, so that we can score as many goals as possible and simply be the best on the pitch.”

Brentford come into this weekend sitting seventh in the Premier League table which would be enough for them to qualify for the Europa Conference League next year.

They are one points behind Bournemouth, who sit in the Europa League spot, and one point ahead of Brighton who are not qualifying for European competition as things stand.

The Bees are also within one victory of Fulham, Everton and Chelsea which shows how precarious their position is.

Any points against Man City today will be a huge boost to their European hopes but it’ll be a tough task.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do over the next three games to do anything like [qualify for Europe],” said Keith Andrews at Friday’s press conference.

“The focus is on tomorrow, first and foremost, but we want to finish the season really well.

“The performance levels, the energy and the appetite from the players have been there in abundance.

“Tomorrow is obviously going to be very, very difficult, but we want to go there and show what a good team we are.”

The Brentford manager said: “The squad are good, they’re full of energy, and they’ve had a really good week,” said Andrews.

“I’m not long off the training pitch and there’s a good energy around it; everyone’s in a pretty good place.

“Vitaly [Janelt] will be a little bit closer now, with another week’s training under his belt. He did well to even be involved last weekend, and we wanted him to be in the squad.

“Jordan [Henderson] will be involved tomorrow; he’s had a good week’s training as well.

“Rico [Henry] was back on the grass on Friday, but he won’t be involved… he’s not ready yet.”

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City showed the mentality of champions in their fightback at Everton and remain in the title race despite dropping two vital points.

City missed the chance to move back within three points of Premier League leaders Arsenal as they drew 3-3 at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday.