Brentford may have turned a corner, while City keep slipping just as they seem to be flying

After one win in their first five games left them 17th in the table, it was starting to feel as though Brentford had one asset too many stripped during the summer. But last weekend against Manchester United, albeit against abject opposition, they gave their season a kick-start with their best performance of the campaign so far.

Manchester City haven’t quite built up a head of steam yet, following up their 5-1 shellacking of Burnley last weekend by conceding a last minute penalty to Monaco on Wednesday night for a 2-2 draw. They look excellent around 85% of the time, but they do seem to pay for that other 15%.

Brentford’s record against Manchester City is… not great

Other than the 2022-23 season, when Brentford did the double over them, Manchester City have only dropped two points to the Bees since the latter’s promotion to the Premier League in 2021. Last season they drew 2-2 in this corresponding fixture, but with their head coach and several key players having left the club since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge at Brentford since January.

One particular name has the potential to really upset Brentford’s weekend

It’s obvious, it’s predictable, it’s Erling Haaland. But the numbers are absurd. He’s scored eleven goals in eight games for Manchester City so far this season. Eight in six, in the League. He’s scored in both of their games in the Champions League and every Premier League match apart from their 2-0 home defeat to Spurs and their 2-0 win at Huddersfield in the EFL Cup. He’s scored more than the rest of the team put together – they’ve scored 20 goals in all competitions – and their next highest goalscorers are Phil Foden and Own Goals, who have two each.

Igor Thiago was Brentford’s star turn last weekend with two in the first twenty minutes against Manchester United. He hasn’t quite got the record that Haaland has overall, but he has scored five in six games. Like City, Brentford’s next highest scorer is also on two goals, and that’s midfielder Fabio Carvalho. Brentford have scored in all eight six in the Premier League and two in the EFL Cup of the games that they’ve played so far this season.

Manchester City are missing four. Rayan Cherki, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Omar Marmoush, and Abdukodir Khusanov are all expected to be missing. Brentford are also missing four. Gustavo Nunes, Paris Maghoma, Reiss Nelson and Fabio Carvalho have all been out for Brentford of late, though Nelson and Carvalho are set to be in contention to return this weekend.

Brentford have to somehow stop Erling Haaland, if they want to stop Manchester City

Brentford and Manchester City have played 17 games between them so far this season and only once have they failed to score. What happens to Brentford on Sunday afternoon will ultimately come down to what they can do to quell that Nordic Goalgotha that City have got playing up front for them. Strap him down, like the Lilliputians did to Lemuel Gulliver on the first of his Travels, and they can take something from this. But should he break free of his shackles he could well run amok again.

That said, City’s defending hasn’t been outstanding this season. Donnarumma is an obvious upgrade in goal, but they’ve only kept two clean sheets in the League, and while they deserved to win in Monaco they hit the crossbar twice they were ultimately undone by their own defensive profligacy. But nevertheless, I’ll go for a rakish 3-2 City win.