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Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of Brentford versus Manchester United, which kicks off at 8 pm to serve as the final offering from today’s eight top-flight games.
All seven of today’s matches have featured plenty of goals and excitement, so let us hope the best of the day’s Premier League action has been saved for this evening encounter in West London.
This exact fixture at the Gtech Stadium last season saw hosts Brentford pummel the 13-time Premier League champions in a 4-0 thrashing back in August 2022.
How manager Thomas Frank would welcome another memorable triumph over Man United tonight, or indeed any win at all, given Brentford’s dismal league form at present.
Their disappointing 2-1 loss away at Burnley before the international break marked a seventh loss from their last nine league matches.
What’s more is that no team has earned fewer points from their last 18 Premier League matches than Brentford’s 10, leaving them in 15th and five points above the relegation zone, albeit a point better off than after their latest league defeat, due to Nottingham Forest’s four-point deduction last week.
Ivan Toney finding the back of the net once again will most certainly be pivotal for a change in Brentford’s fortunes, as the 28-year-old is scoreless in his last five league outings, although the striker did score his first international goal on Tuesday for England in their 2-2 draw versus Belgium.
Meanwhile, Manchester United return to first-team action for the first time since their epic 4-3 FA Cup quarter-final home win over Liverpool nearly a fortnight ago.
Tonight’s match heralds the first of two stern tests for United in West London, with Erik ten Hag’s men travelling to Chelsea in midweek after this encounter, so they will be keen on gaining maximum points from their double-header in the capital to bolster their hopes of Champions League qualification.
Indeed, with English clubs seemingly set to earn a fifth qualification place for next season’s edition, Man United now have an added incentive to embark on a strong finish to their league campaign in the hope of overcoming their six-point deficit behind fifth-placed Tottenham, as well as a vastly inferior goal difference.
On the other hand, another chastening defeat at the Gtech Stadium would not only lead to a return of the sirens which tend to signal yet another crisis at Manchester United, but it would also mark their 12th Premier League defeat of the season, a club record in the Premier League era.
Team news to follow shortly.
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