Ten Hag on the brink as Man Utd welcome Brentford
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It is pretty much exactly 12 months ago since Scott McTominay came off the bench to score a dramatic late brace and save Manchester United from a defeat at home to Brentford as they return from the international break once again welcoming the Bees to Old Trafford.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 19th October, 2024: UK – 3:00pm / US ET – 10:00am / US PT – 7:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Not televised / US – Not televised
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Cannot be streamed / US – Peacock
MAN UTD PREVIEW: SAME OLD, SAME OLD
Erik ten Hag is in charge of Manchester United and for most neutrals that will be a good thing. The Red Devils may well have won the EFL Cup and the FA Cup in the last two seasons but the Dutchman has never really been able to put together a convincing run of cohesive league form and improvement seems even further away than it ever has during his tenure.
Ten Hag has been able to dig out one-off results to ensure he keeps his job but the level at United is now so low that throwing away a two-goal lead at Porto and then being much the worse of the two sides in a goalless draw against Aston Villa, as they did just before the international break, are now not considered ‘that bad’.
BRENTFORD PREVIEW: BUZZING BEES
Thomas Frank struggled with injuries and suspensions throughout last season but Brentford have a lot more clarity this time around and they have returned to the impressive Bees side that we have seen in the top-flight ever since their promotion to the top-flight back in 2021.
They have suffered three defeats in the Premier League but those losses came at Anfield, the Etihad Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – taking the lead in the latter two of those three matches. Their performances have been much-improved this season and the form of Bryan Mbeumo simply has to be touched upon, especially when remembering the dip last year may well have been as a result of the Cameroonian suffering persistent injuries.
MAN UTD TEAM NEWS: Coming soon
Coming soon
PREDICTED XI (X-X-X-X): Coming soon
UNAVAILABLE: Coming soon
QUESTIONABLE: Coming soon
BRENTFORD TEAM NEWS: NO FOR HENRY BUT MAYBE FOR WISSA
Thomas Frank has confirmed that Democratic Republic of Congo international forward Yoane Wissa has returned to training on grass sooner than expected but it is still unclear as to whether he will be available for this weekend.
Rico Henry has missed pretty much the last year due to injury but he returned to training a couple of weeks ago and has now played a behind-closed-doors friendly over the break. This week still comes too soon, though, for the left-back.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Flekken; Van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock, Ajer; Janelt, Norgaard; Mbeumo, Carvalho, Lewis-Potter; Schade
UNAVAILABLE: Hickey (Injured), Henry (Fitness), Dasilva (Injured), Nunes (Injured), Thiago (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Jensen (Injured), Damsgaard (Injured), Wissa (Fitness)
MAN UTD VS BRENTFORD PREDICTION
Manchester United have won three of their 11 games across all competitions so far this season with a last-gasp win on the opening day against Fulham, a win against a poor Southampton side in which Saints missed a penalty at 0-0 and then a defeat of League One Barnsley in the EFL Cup. Brentford are sophisticated and detail-oriented operators, as shown by scoring inside the opening 80 seconds in four successive matches before the break and if any team is going to be lazy after a break it would seemingly be United. A double chance bet in favour of the away side would appear good value.
MAN UTD VS BRENTFORD TIP: DOUBLE CHANCE – BRENTFORD TO WIN OR DRAW
