Manchester City’s game in hand on their fellow title contenders arrives on Tuesday night as they play host to Brentford.
This fixture was postponed in December due to City’s Club World Cup commitments.
The two sides only faced off two weeks ago with Brentford once again giving the Cityzens a scare. However, after falling a goal behind, Phil Foden scored three times to inspire Pep Guardiola’s men to a hard-fought 3-1 away win.
The Bees completed the double over the treble-winners last season and were the only team to win at the Etihad. However, Thomas Frank’s side head into Tuesday’s bout having lost three of their previous five. They were thumped 4-1 at home by Liverpool on Saturday. City, meanwhile, saw their imperious groove thwarted by Chelsea on Saturday as they could only muster a point against the Blues.
Here’s 90min’s preview of Tuesday’s game.
Man City vs Brentford H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current Form (all competitions)
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
Not being televised – TalkSPORT UK for live radio commentary |
|
United States |
UNIVERSO NOW, nbcsports.com, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, USA Network, UNIVERSO, NBC Sports App |
|
Canada |
fuboTV |
Guardiola is set to rotate given the quick turnaround from Saturday’s draw, with the Spaniard unable to call upon the injured Jack Grealish and Josko Gvardiol.
Julian Alvarez’s form has been called into question and the Argentine could drop out of the starting XI on Tuesday.
Bernardo Silva, John Stones, and Mateo Kovacic could all come into the side.
Man City predicted lineup vs Brentford (3-2-4-1): Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake; Stones, Rodri; Bernardo, De Bruyne, Kovacic, Foden; Haaland.
Bryan Mbeumo’s continued absence means Ivan Toney will once again be partnered by Neal Maupay. The Frenchman scored the opener against City at the start of the month.
Aaron Hickey and Kevin Schade are both doubts with respective hamstring and hip injuries while Rico Henry and Josh Dasilva are out for the rest of the season.
Brentford predicted lineup vs Man City (3-5-2): Flekken; Collins, Pinnock, Mee; Roerslev, Jensen, Norgaard, Janelt, Reguilon; Toney, Maupay.
Brentford certainly have the blueprint for toppling the Cityzens and their success in Manchester last season will undoubtedly instil some confidence heading into Tuesday’s game.
City were pretty dominant in the recent reverse fixture, although their lack of clean sheets must be a concern for Guardiola. His team are vulnerable to the counter-attack, with Brentford boasting the requisite threat to frighten Tuesday’s hosts.
City are unlikely to blow away the resilient Bees, and they’ll instead have to work hard for all three points.
Prediction: Man City 2-1 Brentford
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