Manchester City play host to Brentford on Saturday afternoon as they look to keep their perfect run of form beyond the fourth fixture of the season.
The start of the season has proven to be rather easy for the reigning Premier League champions, as they breezed past Chelsea and recently-promoted Ipswich Town in their opening two matches.
Their dominance would be on full display in their most recent outing against West Ham United, who they beat 1-3 thanks in huge part to a hat-trick from Erling Haaland at the London Stadium.
The Norwegian’s goalscoring feat against the Hammers was not even his first of the season, having done the same only the week prior against the Tractor Boys, marking his eighth hat-trick of his young Premier League career.
While Erling Haaland and Manchester City have had somewhat of an easy ride so far, they get ready to take on a team that have proven to provide quite the problem for them in recent meetings, as pointed out by Pep Guardiola during his pre-match press conference.
Despite falling in both meetings against Guardiola’s side last season, the Bees are the last team to win at the Etihad in any competition following a 1-2 win back in November 2022, which was part of a season where they took all six points from the eventual champions.
Looking at this season, Thomas Frank’s men have gotten off to quite a strong start, taking six points from their first three matches, despite the departure of Ivan Toney, who left the club for Saudi Arabia on transfer deadline day of the summer market.
In the absence of the Englishman, the Bees have found offensive solace in forwards Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa, with the partnership combining for five goals in the opening weeks of the campaign.
Manchester City will host Brentford at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 14 September with kick-off scheduled for 15:00 BST.
Erling Haaland may yet be ruled out against the Bees this weekend following the passing of a close family friend, with Pep Guardiola explaining that he will examine the striker’s mental and physical health prior to kick-off on Saturday.
“It was sad news, he was close to him and his family… we will see tomorrow if he is mentally and physically able to play,” said Guardiola during his pre-match press conference.
While Haaland’s status for Saturday’s match remains up in the air, the same cannot be said for Nathan Ake, who will be out for quite some time following an injury sustained with the Netherlands over the recent international break.
Rodri and Phil Foden returned to training earlier in the week following a delayed start to the season, given their respective journeys in the European Championship in the Summer. Pep Guardiola was quick to heap praise on the partnership regarding the quality of their training.
“They’re good,” elaborated the Catalan, “They’re training. Really good.”
Savinho has also trained as normal throughout the week having missed the visit to West Ham United with a slight knee problem. Oscar Bobb remains a long-term absence following a leg fracture prior to the start of the Premier League season.
Thomas Frank is set to be without the likes of Joshua Dasilva, Mathias Jensen, Rico Henry, and Aaron Hickey, while Kristoffer Ajer will be available for Saturday’s match following an ankle injury.
In their previous four meetings, the two sides have managed to split the matches, with the Bees claiming the first two contests, while Manchester City have had the last laugh in the more recent fixtures.
When the two sides met in February 2024, it was Erling Haaland once again who managed to be the difference maker in the Etihad Stadium affair, slotting home a winning-goal in the 71st minute.
Manchester City have won all three of their Premier League games this season. They have won each of their opening four matches of an English top-flight campaign on eight previous occasions (1903-04, 1912-13, 1961-62, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2023-24), which is already the most of any club.
Since the start of last season, Brentford have lost more Premier League away games (13) than any side currently in the competition. The Bees have also lost each of their last five away league games against sides that finished the previous season in the Premier League’s top four.
Manchester City have won each of their last 12 Premier League games, all by a margin of 2+ goals. Indeed, under Pep Guardiola alone, the Citizens are responsible for six of the 16 runs of 12+ consecutive wins by any clubs in English top-flight history (38%).
Viewers in the United Kingdom will not be able to view Saturday afternoon’s match against Brentford due to the traditional Saturday 3PM Blackout rule.
For viewers in the United States, you can view the contest on Peacock, or listen in on SiriusXM FC, with kick-off scheduled for 10:00AM EST.
Viewers elsewhere in the world can find out how to watch here!
City Xtra will also be providing live coverage of the match on all of our social media channels, with a live watchalong show hosted by Jordan Rothwell available on our official YouTube channel.
