Match Preview: Brentford v Manchester United | OneFootball

After almost a month away, Brentford return to Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday to take on Manchester United. The game kicks off at 8pm and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

Thomas Frank's side lost 2-1 to Burnley last time out, while United are boosted by a dramatic 4-3 victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the Bees' latest Premier League clash.

Pre-match Analysis

Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: United have displayed Jekyll and Hyde tendencies this season

A superb performance saw Brentford come incredibly close to victory at Old Trafford earlier this season before Scott McTominay's late double.

Thomas Frank will be hoping his team have learned a valuable lesson from that game as the Bees welcome Manchester United to Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

And while it would be nice to have another performance like the 4-0 thumping that Brentford dished out to United early last season, with this opposition you really have no idea what to expect.

The Red Devils' epic morale-boosting win over rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup just before the international break is an ideal case study for a team full of inconsistencies.

United came out of the traps flying in that game with a goal from Brentford's familiar foe McTominay.

But teams have shown it’s possible to get at this Manchester United midfield, who often give up ground to the opposition despite having talents like Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro and new England international Kobbie Mainoo.

It's not too surprising then that Red Devils have conceded an average of 16.7 shots per game this season, behind only Luton Town (17.3) and Sheffield United (17.9). For context, Brentford have conceded 14.8 shots per game this term.

A quickfire double put Liverpool ahead before the break in that FA Cup tie, with the United defence making some familiar mistakes. Ivan Toney, Yoane Wissa, Neal Maupay and Bryan Mbeumo will no doubt be prepared to pounce on any more.

United have had to manage with several injuries in defence this season including two vital players Lisandro Martínez and Luke Shaw absent in recent weeks.

Indeed, Saturday's game could have been a perfect chance for Sergio Reguilón to show the club he began this season with why they should have extended his loan stay. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, his sending off against Burnley means he'll have to watch from the stands.

Speaking of defensive absences, both Erik ten Hag and Thomas Frank will be able to share war stories about how much their teams have been hurt by long-term casualties this season.

Going back to that FA Cup classic, the Manchester side eventually won the game 4-3 with a last-gasp Amad Diallo winner late into extra-time. It was a special moment for the supporters, but the Red Devils have not been prolific in the league.

The Bees are currently out-scoring United in the Premier League by 41 goals to 39. In fact, United are just one of six teams to score fewer than 40 league goals and half of those six are teams currently in the relegation zone.

Brentford's luck has been out in recent defeats to Arsenal and Burnley, and they face something of a lottery when it comes to their next opponents.

Ten Hag's enigmatic United have displayed Jekyll and Hyde tendencies all season – and Frank's Bees will aim to locate the pressure points of a team that is simultaneously dangerous and fragile.

Scout Report

Impressive form puts United in the hunt for Champions League qualification

After the first seven Premier League games of this season, Manchester United had made their worst-ever start since the foundation of the competition in 1992 and also their worst since the 1989/90 campaign, three years into Sir Alex Ferguson’s near three-decade reign in charge at Old Trafford.

Throw in the intense questioning of new goalkeeper Andre Onana, allegations against winger Antony and the exclusion of Jadon Sancho from the squad – and subsequent loan back to Borussia Dortmund - and things were looking pretty bleak in M16.

A late, late 2-1 win over Brentford on 7 October – courtesy of two goals from Scott McTominay in second-half stoppage-time – started to get United out of their troubling rut, though.

“You have to find a moment in the season you can build on – I think we have found it now,” said Ten Hag after the dramatic victory. “This game reflects a lot of our season start; the mistake, but then the comeback, the personality, the character. This has to be a turning point. We know we have to change, reset.”

They won five of the next seven league games – albeit often unconvincingly and by narrow margins – to establish themselves in the top six, though it was perhaps a false dawn; by the end of 2023, they had dropped back into eighth and been knocked out of the Carabao Cup and the Champions League, finishing bottom of the group - after just one win in six - in the latter.

If ever United needed a reset, it was now. The winter break could not have arrived at a more apt time.

Fortunately for them, for the most part, everything has gone swimmingly so far since the turn of the year; in the 12 games Ten Hag’s side have played, they have won nine.

Five of those have come in the Premier League, where – despite their leaky defence – they have consolidated sixth and kept themselves in the hunt for a top-five spot that would likely seal Champions League qualification.

The other four have come in their perfect FA Cup run from the third round to the semi-finals, where Championship side Coventry stand between them and another final, potentially against sworn enemies Man City, who face Chelsea at the Etihad in three weeks’ time.

While it remains a worry, the aforementioned leaky defence would be more of an issue if the attack had not reached its most potent levels of the campaign in recent months. United have scored 28 across their last 12 games, seven of which have been scored by Rasmus Højlund, who is beginning to show just why the club paid a reported initial fee of £64 million to sign him from Atalanta last summer.

The fact lifelong fan Sir Jim Ratcliffe was confirmed as a minority shareholder in the club in February, and has since taken control of football operations, has certainly lifted the mood around the club.

The 71-year-old billionaire is talking the talk fans have not heard under the ownership of the Glazer family: plans to refurbish or rebuild Old Trafford, developing a star of the same ilk as Kylian Mbappé rather than shelling out huge sums for his signature and, perhaps most importantly for United fans, knocking Liverpool and Man City “off their perch”.

For now, there is positivity aplenty and targets to chase down in the final two months of another eventful season.

In the Dugout

Erik ten Hag

Before he became a manager, Erik ten Hag had a 13-year playing career as a centre-back in his native Netherlands, the majority of which was spent FC Twente, whom he signed for on three separate occasions. He lifted the KNVB Cup in 2000/01 and retired at De Grolsch Veste, aged 32 in 2002.

He spent the four years that followed his retirement as a coach in Twente’s youth set-up, before working as the first-team assistant to Fred Rutten and, later, to Steve McClaren during his first spell in charge of the Dutch club.

Rutten brought Ten Hag with him to PSV in 2009, helping the club to successive third-place finishes in the Eredivisie.

Four months after Rutten was sacked in 2012, Ten Hag was appointed as a manager in his own right for the first time at Eerste Divisie side Go Ahead Eagles, whom he led to promotion in his first and only season in charge.

He then moved on to Bayern Munich II, who he guided to the Regionalliga Bayern in 2013/14, with a squad that included Emre Can and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg.

In May 2015, he joined former club Utrecht and left after two and a half years, and a 51 per cent win ratio, to join Ajax three days after Christmas in 2017. It was at the Johan Cruyff Arena that he really started to make a name for himself.

In four and a half years, his team won the Eredivisie three times, the KNVB Cup twice and the Johan Cruyff Shield on one occasion, as well as reaching the semi-final of the Champions League in 2018/19 and the quarter-final of the Europa League in 2020/21.

Ten Hag signed a new two-year deal with Ajax in May 2021, but, 11 months later, it was announced he would become the new Manchester United manager. He later left the Dutch club earlier than expected to begin work at Old Trafford after Ralf Rangnick’s short spell in charge.

The Dutchman recently surpassed 100 games at the helm.

The Gameplan

With Tyrone Marshall, Manchester Evening News

Tyrone Marshall, senior football writer at the Manchester Evening News, explains how Erik ten Hag is likely to set up his side at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday:

“Lisandro Martínez might be back, so there could be a change defensively, but I do not know if he will start, given he has been out for eight weeks. He was with Argentina during the international break, but I think that was more for training and to see his mates over there, really. Brentford might be too soon for him to start, but it will likely be a pretty similar team to the one they played against Liverpool.

“Højlund is back now, so I think he is going to start. United are still lacking a left-back, so that is not going to change and Aaron Wan-Bissaka or Diogo Dalot might play there.”

Last time out v Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lindelof, Dalot; McTominay, Mainoo; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Højlund

Read the full interview with Tyrone Marshall here

Team news

Mbeumo could make first start since December; Reguilón suspended

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank provided an update on injured trio Aaron Hickey, Christian Nørgaard and Ethan Pinnock during his press conference at Jersey Road on Friday.

Frank revealed that full-back Hickey (hamstring) is “further down the line”, while captain Christian Nørgaard (back) is progressing well but won’t be available this weekend.

Ethan Pinnock (ankle), who last appeared against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 10 February, is also “going in the right direction” but won’t feature against Erik ten Hag’s side.

As revealed on Thursday, Kevin Schade (adductor) has been training with the first-team group since the beginning of the international break, but Saturday’s game will come too soon for the Germany international.

Forward Bryan Mbeumo played just over 10 minutes against Burnley last time out and could make his first start since 6 December against United.

Rico Henry (knee), Josh Dasilva (knee) and Ben Mee (ankle) are sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Sergio Reguilón will serve a one-match suspension on Saturday having been sent off during the 2-1 defeat to Burnley for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Match Officials

Hooper handed fourth Brentford assignment of the season

Referee: Simon Hooper

Assistants: Adrian Holmes and Simon Long

Fourth official: Gavin Ward

Video assistant referee: Stuart Attwell

Additional video assistant referee: Marc Perry

Experienced Wiltshire referee Simon Hooper, who tried to make it as a professional footballer in his youth, has taken charge of 29 Brentford games as both he and the Bees have worked their way up the divisions.

Hooper's first Brentford game came in October 2008 at Aldershot in League Two before seven Sky Bet League One assignments from 2009 to 2013 followed.

In the Sky Bet Championship, he was the man in charge for the Bees’ unforgettable 4-1 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage in April 2015 and also refereed the 1-0 win at home to Queens Park Rangers in October that same year.

Hooper refereed two Brentford games last month: the 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers and a 4-2 defeat by West Ham United.

Last Meeting

Manchester United 2 Brentford 1 (Premier League, 7 October 2023)

Scott McTominay’s stoppage-time brace denied Brentford all three points at Old Trafford.

Mathias Jensen steered Thomas Frank’s side ahead from inside the penalty area on 26 minutes as the Bees took a deserved lead into half-time.

After the break, Brentford defended manfully and presented a threat on the break. Christian Nørgaard and Neal Maupay both saw efforts tipped over by Andre Onana but there was to be late heartbreak.

Introduced in the closing stages of normal time, McTominay drilled home an equaliser three minutes past the 90 before flicking the winner beyond Thomas Strakosha with the last action of the game.

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