Manchester United play host to Brentford on Wednesday at Old Trafford hoping to return to winning ways following a three game winless run in the Premier League.
The Old Trafford outfit will be searching for a first Premier League win since 19th February when they overcame Leicester 3-0 with Marcus Rashford scoring a brace and Jadon Sancho scoring the other on that day.
Since that win, they have lost two while drawing one. They terribly lost 7-0 to Liverpool before drawing goalless draw with bottom placed Southampton, and their latest loss, a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle on Sunday.
Brentford got the better of Erik Ten Hag’s men in the first round game when the Bees’ four strikes in the first half condemned Man United to a humiliating 4-0 defeat.
Ten Hag’s men will bank on their home record where only Leeds and Southampton have escaped with a point in the last six months and will hope that their leading marksman Marcus Rashford rediscovers his scoring form that saw him scoop two successive Player of the Month awards in January and February.
Brentford visit Old Trafford with confidence as it’s one of the sides that is very difficult to breakdown. They have achieved some significant results this term defeating, Manchester City and Liverpool 2-1 and 3-0 respectively as well as holding the League leaders Arsenal, to a 1-all draw which shows how competitive they are.
Brentford are currently seven points behind Manchester United though they have played a game more . They are placed 7th on the table standings so they should fancy their chances to win and push for European football.
The Bees 4-0 mauling of United earlier in the season should send warning signals to Ten Hag’s team as they will come to Old Trafford with similar ambitions. Their head coach Thomas Frank believes that his side can pile more misery on the already wounded bull in Manchester United.
“We can do something. We Know it will be unbelievably difficult (on Wednesday). They will come flying out and fighting for every single ball. They’ll be showing unbelievable determination, and their skillset is absolutely frightening when you look at the players they have in their squad. It will be difficult but, off course we believe in ourselves that we can do something.” Frank said.
Frank though should be concerned about the fact that they have drawn far too many games as 13 of their 28 games in the league this season have ended in stalemates.
Their last three games have all ended in stalemates with the most recent being a dramatic 3-3 draw with Brighton. Brentford thought they had carried all the three points as they led 3-2, but a stoppage-time penalty from Alexis MacAllister ensured the spoils were shared.
They will expect to better their previous performance hoping that talisman Ivan Toney continues to display his goal scoring prowess that has seen him bag 16 Premier League goals this season .
TEAM NEWS:
Machester United will be without Casemiro who is serving a four match suspension and he is also set to miss the weekend game against Everton. Christian Eriksen is close to his return though this game has come too early for him while Alejandro Garnacho, Tom Heaton and Donny Van de Beek are still nursing their respective injuries. Wan Bissaka should make a return having sat out on the weekend game due to an illness.
Brentford will miss Kean-Lewis Potter and Kristoffer Ajer who are still in the sickbay while Vitaly Janelt is a doubt having missed the two previous games against Leicester and Brighton. Shandon Baptiste is set to return after serving his one match suspension.
