Brentford vs Manchester City predictions, odds & free bets
The defending champions are firm favourites with online bookmakers to finish atop the table in 2023/24, but Pep Guardiola will be taking nothing for granted.
Football betting sites fancy City to come out on top at the Gtech Community Stadium, but could Brentford spring a surprise?
Here are our predictions using the best Premier League odds.
Champions unlikely to waste chance
It was a good weekend for Manchester City. A draw at the Emirates Stadium would not have been a bad result for the Premier League holders, but an Arsenal win was the ideal outcome.
As a result, City can climb to the summit of the standings if they win their two games in hand, the first of which takes place in west London on Monday.
Guardiola’s men were by no means perfect in the first half of the campaign, but they have got the eye of the tiger back.
Starting with their participation at the Club World Cup, City have won eight games on the bounce in all competitions.
Clean sheets continue to elude them in the Premier League, however. Remarkably, they have kept just one in their last 11 top-flight outings - and that was against last-placed Sheffield United.
Brentford have Ivan Toney available again and Neal Maupay has scored four goals in his last four matches. The hosts can find the back of the net here, but avoiding defeat is a tall order.
Stats suggest first goal to come midway through first half
Another reason Manchester City will be feeling optimistic about the title race is that they now have Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne available again.
Those two players make such a difference to Guardiola’s side, who will carry an even greater attacking threat once both men are in the same starting XI.
That has not happened in a Premier League game since the opening weekend of the campaign, when De Bruyne was forced to withdraw through injury after only 23 minutes.
Brentford’s first objective will be to contain City, which is easier said than done. While they may have some success early on, there is a high chance that the champions will break through in the first half.
The opening goal may well come in the middle period of the first half: the average minute of City’s first strike in 2023/24 is the 24th, while Brentford’s is the 30th.
Fully fit De Bruyne makes a huge difference
De Bruyne is still finding his groove after a few months on the treatment table, but it will not be long before the Belgium international is back to his brilliant best.
That is bad news for Liverpool and Arsenal, not to mention every opponent that has to face City in the coming weeks.
De Bruyne made a huge impact off the bench in the 3-2 victory over Newcastle United last month, before making his first start since August against Burnley last time out.
De Bruyne notched an assist in the 3-1 defeat of Vincent Kompany’s men, setting up Julian Alvarez’s second goal of the game. It was his 103rd assist in the Premier League - only Ryan Giggs and Cesc Fabregas have more.
It is a small sample size, but the former Chelsea man is averaging an assist every 50 minutes in all competitions this term. That bodes ill for Brentford.
After looking at betting apps, we're backing De Bruyne to notch at least one assist with BoyleSports at odds of 2/1.
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A London-based football specialist, Greg Lea has written for multiple top publications including The Guardian and ESPN with coverage of the Premier League, Champions League and World Cup. He contributes football betting tips to The Independent.
