Brentford vs Man City prediction: Haaland can take sting out of Bees | OneFootball

Brentford’s impressive home form will be put to the test tonight when they host a Manchester City side looking for their fourth successive win in all competitions (7:30pm, TNT Sports 2 and Discovery+).

The Bees have won the same number of home games as the league leaders Liverpool so far, with seven, and 22 of their 27 points have been earned at home but they go into the game on the back of three straight home defeats.

After losing to Nottingham Forest and Arsenal in the league they were on the end of a cup shock at the weekend, beaten 1-0 by the Championship’s bottom side Plymouth who secured their first win in 12 games.

Manchester City on the other hand made easy work of their League Two opponents, beating Salford City 8-0 to earn a tie against Leyton Orient or Derby County in the fourth round.

Manager Pep Guardiola might not believe performances have improved for his side but three wins on the bounce is a far cry from the form that saw them win just one in 13 games from October to December.

If they had played Salford back then you might have backed Karl Robinson’s side for the shock, but as it was City were professional throughout and never took their foot off the gas.

Just seven points separate sixth-placed City and 11th-placed Brentford while the reigning champions are already 12 points off the leaders Liverpool, who also have a game in hand.

You still wouldn’t rule them out to be back among the title chasers though and football betting sites are offering 25/1 on them winning the league, ahead of Nottingham Forest and Chelsea who sit five points and four points ahead of them.

Brentford have lost their last four matches against City, including the meeting earlier this season at the Etihad. Yoane Wissa opened the scoring for the visitors inside the first minute, but all that did was stoke the fire in Erling Haaland who scored twice within the opening 32 minutes to earn the home side a 2-1 win.

The Bees also took the lead in the corresponding fixture last season, when Neal Maupay scored after 21 minutes, only for Phil Foden to score a hat trick and secure a 3-1 win.

Thomas Frank will take some heart from the 2022/23 season though when his side completed the double over City, which is a rare feat in itself but the fact they are the only side, across all four divisions, yet to keep a clean sheet at home this season will make their task even harder.

They have also only kept one clean sheet against City in seven attempts, but City have kept just three in their last 16 games, so we should expect goals.

Betting sites have City as the favourites at 4/6, while Brentford are as big as 4/1 in places and you can get 18/5 on a draw. Were the match to end level, it would be their first draw since they met in the FA Cup back in 1997 when Brentford were playing in the old Division Two.

I can see both sides scoring in this one but with City on their way back to form and the Bees on their worst run of the season you have to fancy City to take all three points.

After an explosive start to the season which saw him score nine goals in his first four league games, including hat-tricks against Ipswich and West Ham and a brace against tonight’s opponents.

But understandably while City were struggling so was he and it’s hard to see what came first – were City struggling because he was or was he enduring his leanest spell in the league because City weren’t creating chances?

Either way three goals in his last two appearances against West Ham and Leicester took his tally for the season to 21 and betting apps have him at 3/1 to score first and odds-on to net anytime at the Gtech Stadium.

You can also get 16/5 on him scoring two or more and after doing that 34 times since signing for City it’s well worth a punt.

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