Manchester City were below par at both ends of the field in their 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday and will look to get back to winning ways against Brentford, who they beat 3-1 in London just over two weeks ago.
The Bees are licking their wounds after a 4-1 home defeat to leaders Liverpool, but may take heart from their 2-0 win at Wolves in their last away game and the fact they were the last visiting team to win at the Etihad in the top flight.
Team news
City will be without Josko Gvardiol, who is nursing an ankle injury and Jack Grealish, who still has not recovered from the groin problem he suffered in last week’s 3-1 Champions League win in Copenhagen.
Brentford defender Ethan Pinnock is ruled out with an ankle injury while Rico Henry, Bryan Mbeumo, Josh Dasilva and Aaron Hickey remain sidelined.
The stats
City have kept two clean sheets in their last nine home league matches.
Nine of Brentford’s last 11 league outings have featured at least three goals, while there have been four or more goals in six of the Bees’ last seven top-flight games.
Both teams have scored in seven of Brentford’s last eight league games.
Ivan Toney has scored four goals in his last five matches.
City are unbeaten in 23 at home in the Premier League since Brentford won at the Etihad in November 2022.
Prediction
City are no longer able to go to the top of the Premier League if they win their game in hand on leaders Liverpool, and manager Pep Guardiola will want to see an improvement after the champions 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday.
Poor finishing, not least from goal machine Erling Haaland, and some unsure defending ensured they could only muster a point against the Blues and it should be a concern that they have conceded in seven of their last nine league games at the Etihad.
City are unbeaten in the top flight on their own patch since the Bees did a number on them in November 2022, but Thomas Frank’s side know the scale of the task they face having lost 3-1 in the reverse fixture just over two weeks ago.
However, they should be confident that they can find the net after they ended a run of five away defeats with a 2-0 success at Wolves on the last occasion they were on their travels.
Talismanic striker Ivan Toney has returned from suspension in fine form and he can trouble a City defence that looked all at sea at times against Chelsea.
So while City should make up for lost time at the other end and could run in a few goals against a team who were exposed frequently by Liverpool in their 4-1 defeat on Saturday, the London side can still make their mark, so go with the Citizens winning but not holding on to a clean sheet.
