🦁 PL Previews: How will Brentford cope with big Toney absence? | OneFootball

For anyone worried that Brentford would struggle to follow up their astonishing debut season in the Premier League, they needn’t have been concerned.

The Bees improved even further, registering an unexpected top half finish and were even in contention for European football until the end.

Expectations are set to increase as a result of the continued overperformance. Can Thomas Frank’s men surprise everyone again?

See all of our club previews right here.

Transfers 🔁

In: Nathan Collins (Wolves, £23m), Kevin Schade (Freiburg, £21.4m) Mark Flekken (Freiburg, £11m), Kim Ji-soo (Seongnam, undisclosed)

Out: Mads Bidstrup (Salzburg, £5.2m), Pontus Jansson (Malmö, free), Paris Maghoma (Bolton, loan), Saman Ghoddos (released)

Transfer balance: -£50.2m

Key fixtures 📆

🔑 Key player: Bryan Mbeumo

He perhaps didn’t always get the plaudits he deserved due to the heroics of fellow forward Toney but that will change this season.

With Toney’s suspension keeping him out of action until the end of January, the onus will be on Mbeumo to deliver in a big way and shoulder even more responsibility.

He is more than capable, with the Cameroonian proving himself to be a handful with his movement, pace, physicality and above all else, ruthless streak in front of goal.

Mbeumo managed nine goals and eight assists last season and more is required to fill the Toney void.

What has changed since last season? 🤔

The biggest change is, of course, the aforementioned ban for star man and top scorer Toney, who will miss the first six months of the season as a result.

It leaves Frank with some big problems to solve on the attacking front, given that the former Peterborough striker directly accounted for 41% of his side’s league goals last season.

Popular defender Pontus Jansson has also departed to return home, while it remains to be seen whether or not David Raya will depart before the transfer window closes.

Nonetheless, the Bees faithful have a new goalkeeper for the campaign ahead, with Mark Flekken arriving from Freiburg to take over between the posts.

Predicted XI 🔮

(4-3-3) — Flekken; Hickey, Collins, Mee, Henry; Damsgaard, Janelt, Jensen; Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade

Where will they finish? 🏆

Premier League: 10th

FA Cup: Fourth round

League Cup: Quarter-final

See all of our club previews right here.