Brentford Brentford

Man City Manchester City

Men's Team

Brentford 0-1 City: Match stats and reaction

teams

Nathan Ake, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus all return to the Manchester City starting XI as Pep Guardiola makes four changes for our trip to Brentford.

They replace Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling, who all drop to the bench following our 6-3 win over Leicester City on Boxing Day.

CITY: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Ake, Fernandinho (C), De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden, Jesus, Grealish.

SUBS: Steffen, Carson, Sterling, Gündogan, Zinchenko, Mahrez, Mbete, Palmer.

BRENTFORD: Fernandez, Pinnock, Jansson, Sorensen, Roerslev, Baptiste, Jensen, Onyeka, Thompson, Wissa, Toney.

SUBS: Canos, Forss, Ghoddos, Peart-Harris, Bidstrup, Stevens, Cox.

When and where

City travel to Brentford on Wednesday 29 December with kick-off scheduled for 20:15 (UK).

The match will be broadcast live in the UK on Amazon Prime Video, while our global TV listings at the foot of this page will show where you can watch the game around the world.

Man City App coverage

As always, the official Man City app will provide comprehensive matchday coverage of our clash with Brentford throughout the evening.

Our Matchday Centre begins two hours prior to kick-off, combining analysis, stats and social media reaction with minute-by-minute updates throughout the evening.

From 19:15, Matchday Live gets underway on all our digital platforms, with special guests Shaun Goater and Joleon Lescott offering their expert insight before, during and after the action.

DOWNLOAD THE MAN CITY APP

At kick-off, live commentary from the Brentford Community Stadium with Alistair Mann and guest commentator Michael Brown can also be found on the app, while those with push notifications turned on will also be alerted to the latest team news and when any goals go in.

But our matchday offering doesn’t end there, with a comprehensive report on proceedings and post-match reaction from Pep Guardiola and players alike available to access soon after full time.

Highlights from the match will appear on mancity.com later in the evening, while those with a CITY+ subscription can also enjoy a full-match replay of our clash with the Bees from midnight after the game.

Next Fixture

All fixtures

Wed 29 Dec

Premier League

Brentford

20:15

GMT

Man City

Matchday Live

As mentioned above, Shaun Goater and Joleon Lescott will be special guests on Matchday Live for our clash with The Bees.

The former City duo join host Natalie Pike and will preview the game from 19:15, with our live show available on all digital platforms, including our Matchday Centre.

Our guests will then return at both half-time and following the game’s conclusion to assess our performance and react to the post-match thoughts of Pep Guardiola and a player.

Interaction from viewers is always encouraged on Matchday Live, so if you want to ask Goat or Joleon a question, send a WhatsApp to +447537186538.

Matchday Live is a must-watch for any supporter looking to enjoy City-centric coverage of each and every match involving Guardiola’s men.

Pep Guardiola preview

“He (Brentford manager Thomas Frank) made an incredible start to the season, (Brentford are) doing really well.

“I saw the Carabao Cup game against Chelsea...wow, they lost but they were incredible. They drew against Liverpool, they beat Arsenal.

“They are a top team, we know it and we will prepare seeing how is the quality of our players right now to try and do it.”

Last time out

City beat Leicester City 6-3 in what Guardiola described as a “rollercoaster” of a game.

The champions raced into a 4-0 lead, with goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez (penalty), Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling (penalty).

The Foxes mounted a spirited fight-back with three second-half goals in 10 minutes through James Maddison, Ademola Lookman, and Kelechi Iheanacho.

But City, in turn, hit back with further goals from Aymeric Laporte and another from Sterling to complete a ninth successive Premier League win and move six points clear of Liverpool and Chelsea.

Form Guide

City have now won nine successive Premier League matches with an aggregate of 30 goals scored and six conceded.

Brentford were beaten 2-0 by Brighton on Boxing Day.

That left the Bees in 13^th spot on 20 points from 17 games and they are nine points above the bottom three and nine adrift of fifth-placed Spurs.

Previous meeting

The last top flight meeting between City and Brentford was in December 1937, some 84 years ago.

The teams have met since then in the second tier and also in the League Cup and FA Cup - the last clash being a 1-0 FA Cup win for City at Griffin Park in 1997.

The Blues’ overall record in all competitions away to the Bees is two wins, one draw and four defeats.

Match Officials

Referee: David Coote

Assistants: Stuart Burt and Neil Hopton

Fourth official: Craig Pawson

VAR: Jarred Gillett

Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis

TV Listings