Manchester United will look to bounce back from their opening-weekend defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion when they face Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday. Last Sunday, the Red Devils were defeated 2-1 at home by the Seagulls, while Brentford came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Leicester City in their season opener.
Last weekend, Brentford appeared to be heading for defeat at the King Power Stadium, with Timothy Castagne and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on the scoresheet for Leicester, who led 2-0 in the 46th minute, but Ivan Toney halved the deficit just past the hour before Josh Dasilva equalised late for the Bees.
Thomas Frank's team will now play their first home game of the season, while the rest of the month will see them face Fulham, Everton, and Crystal Palace in the Premier League, as well as Colchester United in the EFL Cup. Brentford were active in the summer transfer market, bringing in Keane Lewis-Potter, Aaron Hickey, Mikkel Damsgaard, Thomas Strakosha, and Ben Mee, but they lost Christian Eriksen to Manchester United, who left at the end of his contract.
The Bees were excellent in the Premier League last season, finishing 13th with 46 points from 38 games, 11 points clear of the relegation zone, and will now look to consolidate at this level of football. Last season, Manchester United won both league meetings between the two teams, winning 3-1 in London and 3-0 at Old Trafford near the end of the season.
New season, same old problems.Erik ten Hag's newfound optimism, which he brought with him from Ajax, has vanished in just 90 minutes of opening weekend action. Last weekend, United were dismantled by a well-organized and well-drilled Brighton side, and it would not be surprising if Brentford did the same at the Community Stadium on Saturday evening. With Betway, the Bees are 11/4 outsiders to turn United over, while Erik ten Hag's side are even money to start the season with three points. United will need to win a game away from Old Trafford, something they haven't done since February 20. They couldn't muster a single point from their previous game.
West London is set to have a lively atmosphere. Last weekend, Brentford rallied from two goals down to defeat Leicester, a result that must have felt like a victory to Thomas Frank and his players.
Unless Erik ten Hag quickly solves United's numerous problems, the Reds aren't worth backing at even money against anyone, let alone a side as capable as Brentford. With that in mind, the 11/4 on the hosts appears to be a reasonable bet, while the 5/6 on Brentford/draw in the double chance market appears to be a solid wager.
Erik ten Hag refused to speculate on whether Cristiano Ronaldo would be fit enough to start for Manchester United. After a difficult pre-season, Ronaldo came on as a 53rd-minute substitute in last weekend's home defeat to Brighton. Injury has kept fellow forward Anthony Martial and defender Victor Lindelof out, with no changes to the squad from last weekend.
De Gea, Heaton, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, Laird, Maguire, Martinez, Varane, Bailly, McTominay, Garner, Fred, Van de Beek, Eriksen, Chong, Garnacho, Diallo, Pellistri, Elanga, Rashford, Sancho, and Ronaldo are the Manchester United provisional squad.
Thomas Frank confirmed the new signing. Mikkel Damsgaard will not play for Brentford against Manchester United on Saturday. The 22-year-old is expected to be among the substitutes and could make his debut off the bench. Ethan Pinnock, Kristoffer Ajer, and Sergi Canos are still out, with Canos and Ajer expected to return ahead of Pinnock. Raya, Strakosha, Hickey, Jansson, Mee, Henry, Janelt, Norgaard, Jensen, Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa, Dasila, Onyeka, Dervisoglu, Damsgaard, Baptiste, Sorensen, Oerslev, Lewis-Potter are the Brentford provisional squad.
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