MansionBet Match Preview: Brentford (A)

Thursday, December 31st 2020

City look to start the new year with positive vibes when they kick off 2021 away at Brentford.

For Dean Holden's men, it's a first visit to the West London side's new ground, the Brentford Community Stadium.

In association with City's Principal Partner MansionBet, we take a closer look at the match...

It was an unfortunate end to 2020 for the Robins as they fell to defeat at the hands of Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday.

They could feel hard done by and Holden stressed afterwards how his side deserved more from the game.

But ultimately it was another blip in the form guide with City struggling to put an unbeaten run together of late.

As for Brentford, the Bees are buzzing in the automatic promotion spot behind Sky Bet Championship leaders Norwich City as they find themselves on a 16-game unbeaten run (all competitions), stretching back to late October. They've lost only three times all season, just once at their new home since leaving Griffin Park, and head into Saturday's fixture on the back of four wins in a row - this includes maximum points taken off the likes of fellow promotion-chasers AFC Bournemouth and Reading.

They've made progress in the Carabao Cup too, beating Premier League opponents such as Southampton, Fulham and Newcastle United en route to the semi-finals, where they are due to face Jose Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur next month.

Passing those kind of tests shows the credentials of Thomas Frank's side, who went so close to promotion to the top flight last time.

There's still plenty of football to be played, in fact Saturday's fixture marks the halfway point in the season, but City will recognise they will need to be at their defensive best to deny the counter-attacking, creative and forward-thinking threats of the Bees. Ivan Toney leads the Championship goalscoring charts with an impressive return of 16 goals to date putting him on course for a Team of the Season spot already. He's averaging a goal every 119 minutes, and after four games without finding the back of the net, the 24-year-old striker will be itching to get back to scoring ways.

MATCH DETAILS

Where: Brentford Community Stadium
When: Saturday, January 2nd, 3pm KO
Competition: Sky Bet Championship

Referee: Tony Harrington
Assistants: Adrian Waters and Matthew Jones
Fourth official: James Durkin

DOWN MEMORY LANE

Brentford 0-1 Bristol City
Griffin Park
Saturday, October 1st 2018
Sky Bet Championship

City climbed up the Sky Bet Championship table when they got back to winning ways thanks to Niclas Eliasson’s 90th-minute volley at Griffin Park.

An open game in the capital saw the Bees strike the post after going down to ten men when Chris Mepham received his marching orders, before Eliasson snuck in unmarked at the backpost, to ensure the three points would be travelling back down the M4.

Max O’Leary grew in confidence as he made his league debut for the Robins, making a number of stops to keep the travelling side in the contest.

But Lee Johnson’s side ultimately did enough to snatch the win and rise above Brentford in the Championship, in what would be an open game as the match developed.

HEAD TO HEAD*

Brentford v Bristol City

Played: 82
City won: 28 (34%)
Drew: 19
City lost: 35

Bristol City goals: 29
Brentford goals: 45

Bristol City top goalscorers: Nahki Wells (5)
Brentford top goalscorer: Ivan Toney (16)

Bristol City most assists: Antoine Semenyo (6)
Brentford most assists: Bryan Mbeumbo and Mathias Jensen (6)

Bristol City clean sheets: 8
Brentford clean sheets: 11

League positions
Bristol City: 10th (33 points)
Brentford: 2nd (41 points)

*All competitions unless stated

Sonny Bradley's own goal gave City hope at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday

But 2020 ended with a 2-1 defeat at Luton

Robins TV

Brentford versus City will be streamed live on Robins TV. The programme will cost £10, with the livestream consisting of multi-angle and a multi-replay production which gets underway at 2.30pm.

Create your Bristol Sport Club Account now to make sure you are ready for Tuesday night. You can buy your pass at any time in advance of the match - come matchday all you have to do is login to Robins TV and hit “Watch Live”.