Brentford host Liverpool with just a point separating the two teams
By Sam McGuire
The story of the season
Keith Andrews’ side are one of three unbeaten teams in the Premier League, winning two and drawing four of their six outings so far. They’re averaging two goals per game and conceding just one.
At home, they’ve been impressive, winning two and drawing one. They racked up 3-0 wins over both Chelsea and Spurs in victories that made people take notice of Brentford.
Only Brighton, Chelsea and Manchester City have scored more than Brentford’s 12 goals. The Bees are spreading the goals about too with nine different scorers already this term. Incredibly, last season’s top scorer, Igor Thiago, has just one goal to his name this time around but it does highlight how dangerous they are as a collective that he’s firing blanks and yet they’re still scoring goals as a team.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are finding goals hard to come by in the Premier League. They blanked last time out in a 3-0 loss to Manchester City at Anfield, their first defeat of the season. It means they’ve scored just seven in their opening six matches. They’ve also conceded seven.
Andoni Iraola’s men either keep a clean sheet or they concede a minimum of two. That seems to be the pattern this season. If Brentford find the back of the net on Saturday, expect them to not stop at one.
The Reds did bounce back following the loss last Sunday, racking up a 6-3 win over LASK in mid-week. Bradley Barcola netted a hat-trick and the attack seemed to click, albeit against inferior opposition. However, the confidence gained from that game might play a part in the outcome on Saturday.
Interestingly, despite being far from convincing, Liverpool have the second best away record in the English top-flight with seven points from nine. Only leaders Man City (nine) have taken more.
Key Players
For Liverpool, the focus will be on Barcola after his hat-trick in the Champions League. The Reds need him to show that sort of form in the Premier League and if he manages to impress against Brentford, he’ll have done a good job and the likelihood is the away side will have picked up maximum points.
For the hosts, with top scorer Kevin Schade ruled out, all eyes will be on Thiago. He netted against this opposition last season and he’s always a handful, even for physically robust defenders like Virgil van Dijk and Jérémy Jacquet.
Team News
Both sides have injury issues. Brentford are without Nathan Collins, Mikel Damsgaard and Schade. They’re key players in their respective positions.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are missing Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley while Ryan Gravenberch is suspended following his red card against Manchester City. There is some positive news though with Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak all potentially returning after missing the last two.
Prediction
We’re going with an entertaining 2-2 draw and for Brentford’s unbeaten start to continue.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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