MansionBet Match Preview: Brentford (A)

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