Manchester United have had a terrible week and a new challenge is fast approaching. Erik Ten Hag’s side is getting ready for their fourth match at home in a row, but this time they want to make the fans happy with a potential win against Brentford. It will not be an easy task and that is why here is everything you need to know ahead of the Saturday afternoon clash.
Team News
There will be plenty of problems for Ten Hag in terms of choosing his starting eleven for this match. Apart from Lisandro Martinez who is probably out for the rest of the 2023, the Dutchman will be without Luke Shaw due to a muscle injury, Aaron Wan-Bissaka due to a thigh problem and Sergio Reguilon because of his hamstring. Tyrell Malacia is the fourth full-back sidelined, as he has a knee injury, and to this list of absentees can be added Amad Diallo (also knee problem) and, of course, Jadon Sancho, who has been out of contention for a while now due to his disciplinary problems.
As for Brentford, ther are no new problems for Thomas Frank, but he has a decent number of players out of contention from before. Kevin Schade, Shandon Baptiste, Mikkel Damsgaard and Ben Mee are all out, as well as Josh Dasilva, whose hamstring is not letting him help the team.
Form Guide
Man United are far from being an in-form team. In fact, these past seven days have been really hard for everyone, especially manager Erik Ten Hag, who is getting under increasing pressure. The Red Devils lost last two of their matches, both of them at Old Trafford. Last weekend, a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace was a big disappointment, especially as it came just four days after a 3-0 League Cup win against the same opponent, at the same stadium. Then, this past Tuesday, United faced Galatasaray in the Champions League and managed to lose that match too, 3-2 this time. United even had the lead on two occasions, the second time with 20 minutes to go, but still managed to get their second Champions League loss in the second match of the campaign.
Brentford, on the other hand, are not so much in bad form as it is awful. They won just one match in the full 90 minutes this season, 3-0 at Fulham, but that was so long ago, on 19 August. Since then, they only managed to beat Newport County on penalties in the League Cup, adding three draws and four losses to that run. Losing to Newcastle and Arsenal was not so unusual, but they were easily beaten by Everton at home and were unable to get more than a point from a trip to Nottingham.
Predicted Outcome
Considering everything, it is hard not making the hosts favourites to win this one, despite their ability to negatively surprise on any given day. Still, having in mind Brentford’s really poor start to the season, we predict Manchester United will win 2-0 and get a much needed boost ahead of the international break.
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