BRENTFORD PREVIEW

The Lads got the proverbial monkey off their backs last Sunday as a sole Wilson Isidor strike in the second half proved to be decisive against Fulham at the Stadium of Light. In the third weekend of the season, it’s time for them to go on the road again and head to West London to take on a Brentford side that continues to astound and amaze the Premier League with their achievements.

LAST MEETING

The last time we were at the G-Tech Community Stadium, which has the second smallest capacity of all twenty Premier League stadia, the Lads were on the back of a 3-0 loss to the Bees. Brazilian striker Igor Thiago scored twice with Ukrainian Yemor Yarmolyuk adding a third. The Lads didn’t have a good day at the office at all, and this was confounded when Enzo Le Fee missed a penalty kick on the hour. Therefore they will be keen to address that and return to the North East with a second win of the season.

OUR OPPONENTS

Brentford are entering their sixth season in the Premier League and have been one of the surprise packets in it when it comes to newly promoted sides – perhaps that was a template for us? Current manager Keith Andrews, a native of Dublin, was promoted to the hot seat from set piece coach when previous incumbent Thomas Frank departed for Tottenham Hotspur in June 2025. Under Andrews’ tutelage, the Bees finished ninth last season – missing out on European qualification for the first time on the final day.

Their squad has been reshaped again this season with the most notable recruit being Mailian midfielder Mamadou Sangaré who joined from Lens for a club record fee of £41 million. He is one of a number of full internationalists in the squad which includes Kristoffer Ajer and Caoimhin Kelleher to name just two. They are certainly a team that teams should not underestimate at their peril, as they have enjoyed wins in the top division against both Manchester sides and Liverpool.

Their season so far has seen them pick four points out of six. The Bees tore apart a shambolic Tottenham Hotspur side on the opening day of the season, cruising to a 3-0 London derby success over their big spending visitors. The game saw Sangaré get all the plaudits for a very impressive Premier League debut whilst the afore mentioned Igor Thiago, scorer of 25 goals last season, smacked a second half penalty against the post. They are pretty decent at home, losing only three times at the G-Tech, but tend to score as many as they concede in general.

THE LADS

So, we have our first win of the season against a side that had our number last season, and now we face a team that inflicted one of the three 0-3 defeats on the road. It is a game that is capable of being as awkward as any. Very few sides do actually come away from West London with a win under their proverbial belts. I still believe that RLB will stick with his trusted 4-2-3-1 formation but there will be a debut in the starting lineup. Since I got nine of the starting line up right last Sunday, I think this will be his starting eleven in West London:

Roefs

Meunier ----- Ballard ----- Mukiele ----- Reinildo

Xhaka ----- Sadiki

Hume ----- Le Fée ----- Fofana

Brobbey

REF WATCH

The official in charge at the G-Tech is Sheffielder Thomas Bramhall, an official that refereed me in a Sunday League match about 18 years previous when he was just starting out in the refereeing ranks. Thomas’ most recent game featuring the Lads was at the London Stadium last season where we lost 3-1, Brian Brobbey scoring our sole effort.