Premier League: Man City vs Brentford Lines & Preview
Man City Winning Streak Comes to an End
Bees Head to Manchester
Manchester City’s 11 game winning streak came to an end on Saturday as they drew 1-1 vs. Chelsea. To avoid falling behind further in the title race, third place City need a win on Tuesday vs. Brentford. Brentford didn’t fare well themselves on Saturday, when they fell 4-1 to Premier League leaders Liverpool. To avoid getting into a relegation scrap, Thomas Frank’s Bees need to start picking up points. We’ll see which side is more likely to bounce back on Tuesday as we check out the Man City vs Brentford lines.
Manchester City vs. Brentford
Date, time:
Location: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England
Man City vs Brentford Head-to-Head
Manchester City and Brentford met just two weeks ago. Neal Maupay scored the opener for Brentford but a Phil Foden hat trick powered Man City to a 3-1 victory. The pregame Man City vs Brentford lines priced City as -290 favorites. In 2022-23, Brentford were the only team to complete a season sweep of Manchester City in the Premier League. Man City are 3-2 vs. Brentford in the Premier League.
City Exposed vs Chelsea
Erling Haaland wasn’t at his best in Saturday’s match vs. Chelsea. The Norwegian striker, who leads the Premier League stats with 16 goals, missed some big chances and looked visibly frustrated. City also looked vulnerable on the counter attack, especially in the first half. Chelsea took the lead on one of their counter attacks as Nicolas Jackson found Raheem Sterling, who scored against his former employers.
In a match that was wide open at times, City finally managed to get an equalizer deep into the second half. Rodri, who has scored plenty of big goals for City, managed to get a goal which salvaged a point. With the 1-1 draw, City are two points behind Arsenal and four points behind Liverpool, with a game in hand on each team. The draw ended City’s 11 game winning streak, in all competitions.
Pep Guardiola has experimented lately with Julian Alvarez in midfield, alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri but such an attacking setup did seem to leave City exposed.
Don’t be surprised if Guardiola makes some adjustments ahead of Tuesday’s match. He won’t be able to call on either Josko Gvardiol or Jack Grealish, who are both out injured. Regardless, City are unbeaten at the Etihad Stadium since November 2022 and they hold a 8-4-0 record there in the Premier League. Saturday marked the first match De Bruyne didn’t score or assist since his return from injury and expect him to be at the center of the action here.
Brentford Shambolic on Defense
Brentford’s defending in the second half of Saturday’s match vs. Liverpool was nothing short of shambolic. The Bees were down 1-0 at halftime and a spate of individual errors allowed the Reds to score three more goals. Ivan Toney got a consolation goal for Brentford but they fell 4-1 at the Gtech Community Stadium. It was the third time in their last four Premier League matches that Brentford conceded at least three goals.
With the loss, Brentford remained in 14th place in the Premier League standings and they’re in danger of being dragged into a relegation fight. The games don’t necessarily get any easier for Brentford as their next three matches after Man City are at West Ham, vs. Chelsea and at Arsenal. Unfortunately, key defender Ethan Pinnock is expected to be out until after the March international break with an injury.
Thomas Frank will need to sort out his backline, as they looked poor vs. Liverpool. Bettors should be aware that the Bees have only kept one clean sheet since October. Toney has provided Brentford with a boost, with four EPL goals in five matches since returning from a long-term suspension. Still, Josh Dasilva, Bryan Mbeumo and Rico Henry are out long term with injuries, while Kevin Schade and Aaron Hickey are listed as questionable.
Man City vs Brentford Match Analysis & Odds
Entering last weekend, City showed -175 odds to win the Premier League title. They’re still -120 favorites after Saturday’s draw but they have significantly less room for error now. Notably, the last team to defeat Manchester City at home was Brentford, back in November 2022. Here, the Man City vs Brentford lines price hosts City as -500 favorites. Man City are two-goal favorites and City -2 sits at -110 odds.
Brentford, who are just 3-1-7 on road this season, are +1200 underdogs. Brentford +2 sits at -110 odds and the Bees have only won one road match since the end of October. With Pinnock absent from the Brentford back line, it’ll be a huge challenge for the Bees to keep a clean sheet here. Man City over 2.5 goals displays -130 odds and they scored three goals when these sides met two weeks ago.
A draw is priced at +600 odds and it would be a highly disappointing result for the Cityzens. In a match that’s expected to produce more than a few goals, over 3, 3.5 goals stand at -120 odds. Expect Haaland to be determined to get on the scoresheet here after an off match vs. Chelsea.
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