Premier League: Manchester City vs Brentford betting preview

Manchester City is back at it on Tuesday in Premier League action as they welcome Brentford to the Etihad Stadium. The kick-off is scheduled for 2:30 PM ET. City played on Saturday and settled for a rather disappointing 1-1 draw with Chelsea, dropping them to third in the table at the moment. The Bees meanwhile lost 4-1 to league leaders Liverpool on Saturday. These two sides only met a few weeks ago, with City running out 3-1 winners in London. Below, we’ll preview the match.

Man City

City is enjoying another impressive campaign and remains a title contender in England and in Europe. Across all competitions, Pep Guardiola’s men are unbeaten in their last 13 games, with 11 of those ending with three points. The Sky Blues took a step closer to repeating as UCL champs last week with a convincing 3-1 victory over Copenhagen in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie, but Manchester was disappointing on Saturday versus Chelsea.

While he’s usually clinical, Erling Haaland was hopeless in this clash, missing numerous clear-cut opportunities to hit the back of the net. The Blues ultimately took the lead in the first half with a beautiful team goal finished off by former City winger Raheem Sterling, with the hosts having to play catch up. Despite having so many chances, the Sky Blues didn’t find their breakthrough until the 83rd minute when Rodri rattled the net with a thumping strike.

Man City can move within one point of Liverpool with the full points on Tuesday because this was their game in hand. It’s a crucial affair for the title-holders, who need to be consistent as can be with the Merseysiders firing on all cylinders. City is a huge -500 favorite against Brentford at Bodog.

Brentford

It hasn’t been the greatest campaign for Brentford, who are sitting in 14th spot in the standings, six points above the relegation zone. Their 7-4-13 record is nothing to write home about, also conceding 43 goals while scoring only 35. The Bees are just too inconsistent, failing to win consecutive matches since October. In fact, they’ve lost nine of their previous 12 games dating back to early December, even tasting defeat in five straight outings before the turn of the year. 

Matchday 24 resulted in a 2-0 win over Wolves on the road, giving Thomas Frank’s squad a much-needed three points. However, Liverpool proved to be too much on Saturday, completely ripping apart their backline. The Reds controlled 63% of the ball and put away four of their eight attempts on target. Ivan Toney, who is expected to leave this summer, bagged the lone goal for Brentford.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much easier for the Bees. After facing City, West Ham, Chelsea, and Arsenal are up next. This spell will be a serious test for Brentford, who must start producing some results. Having Toney back undoubtedly helps, too. The Englishman has four goals in five appearances since returning from suspension. The visitors are a clear underdog against City at soccer betting sites.

Injury news

For City, both Jack Grealish and Josko Gvardiol are nursing injuries and will be unavailable for the next few weeks. Bernardo Silva and Sergio Gomez are back in the fold though and should feature in some capacity on Tuesday. For the Bees, Frank Onyeka and Yoane Wissa are back from the Africa Cup of Nations. But, Rico Henry, Bryan Mbuemo, Josh Dasilva, Kevin Schade, and Aaron Hickey are all sidelined with health issues.