BRENTFORD CUP PREVIEW
It’s another midweek date for the Lads and this time they swap the Premier League for the Carabao Cup. We’re in the Fourth Round which means we’re just four matches away from a Wembley date. The last time we reached this stage was in 2021-22 when we faced Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road and won on penalties to set up a meeting with Arsenal. Tonight we face their West London neighbours Brentford in an all Premier League clash.
LAST MEETING
You have to go back to the first ever season of the League Cup to find out when the Lads and the Bees last played in this competition. It came in the Second Round, at Brentford’s old Griffin Park ground, and was a seven goal thriller. After trailing to a fourth minute Jim Towers goal, Sunderland turned it around to lead 3-1 at half time thanks to efforts from Willy McPheat, Ian Lawther and Ambrose Fogarty. However, the Bees responded in the second half with three unanswered goals of their own: Dennis Heath and a brace from Johnny Rainford sent them through.
OUR OPPONENTS
Having played the Bees already in the league, we know what we can expect from them: a tough and bruising encounter. Brazilian striker Igor Thiago is a creditable target man forward but there’s threat from other ends of the team sheet. Mikkel Damsgaard is a creative playmaker who can unlock any defence given the opportunity, whilst Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt have the ability to chip in with goals from midfield. Caoimhin Kelleher provides international quality in between the posts.
The Bees arrive here after crushing Birmingham City 6-1 at St Andrews in the Second Round and a 2-1 success at Reading in the Third. Therefore, they shouldn’t be underestimated at all. Their best performance in this competition came in 2020-21 when they reached the semi-final stage before losing 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur.
THE LADS
We go into this match on the back of that goalless draw with Leeds but the major plus point was that BBB played 60 minutes on his return from injury. One player from that game who is probably going to be missing is the popular and enthusiastic Nordi Mukiele but Omar Alderete deputised pretty well when called upon.
Normally I would have expected RLB to go with a rotated squad for this game but we don’t have much in the shape of strength in depth to do that. I’m therefore thinking that this could be the squad that RLB fields for us:
Roefs
Hume – O’Nien – Alderete – Methalie
Ahoka – Sadiki
Rigg – Le Fée – Talbi
Brobbey
REF WATCH
Wednesday’s man in the middle is Gavin Ward of Surrey. The whistler’s last game involving the Lads was our final game of the 2023-24 season when we hosted Sheffield Wednesday at the Stadium of Light. Wednesday won that one 2-0, thanks to goals in the first half from Liam Palmer and Josh Windass. Of the Lads line up that day, all the starting back four are still at the club as well as Chris Rigg and Romaine Mundle from the substitutes bench. How the squad has changed, eh?
