Brentford vs Manchester City preview: Champions look to sign-off with a win

Newly crowned Premier League champions Manchester City will wrap-up another memorable campaign when they take on Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

City overpowered Arsenal – who lead the table for much of the season – to clinch their fourth title in five years last weekend. The Gunners defeat away to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening handed the title to City, so they were able to celebrate in front of their home support after the 1-0 victory over Chelsea the following day.

Pep Guardiola’s men saw their winning streak come to an end with an entertaining 1-1 draw at Brighton in midweek but it still extended their unbeaten record to 24 games in all competitions. City will look to make it 25 with a positive result at Brentford on the final day of the season, but Guardiola may be forgiven for having one eye on bigger prizes.

Man City may have already wrapped up the league title, but they are on-course to secure an historic treble. They face-off against rivals Man Utd in the FA Cup final next month before taking on Inter Milan in the Champions League final. With two huge games on the horizon, Guardiola may look to rest some key players this weekend.

As for Brentford, they’ll be looking to end another impressive season on a high note. The Bees have already guaranteed a top half finish and could end up finishing seventh and qualifying for the Europa Conference League with a win if other results go their way.

Thomas Frank’s side come into the game in good form having registered wins over Chelsea, West Ham and Tottenham in recent weeks, so they’ll be quietly confident of getting a positive result. City have only been beaten four times this season in the league, and somewhat interestingly, one of those rare defeats came at the hands of this very Brentford side, who upset them 2-1 at the Etihad back in November. The Bees therefore could end up doing the double over Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering side if they prevail over the Citizens this weekend.

Team news

Brentford will be without star striker Ivan Toney as he continues to serve his 8-month ban for breaking betting rules. Pontus Jansson is also unavailable due to an on-going hamstring injury while Keane Lewis-Potter is out with a knee problem.

Christian Norgaard is another absentee for the hosts as the midfielder is recovering from an Achilles injury so Mathhias Jensen will continue in midfield this weekend.

Man City will assess the fitness of several players following the draw at Brighton. Phil Foden picked up a knock at the Amex Stadium and may not be risked while Aymeric Laporte is also a fitness doubt for the trip to London.

Manuel Akanji missed the Brighton clash with a knock so he’ll need to be checked over while Jack Grealish and Ruben Dias also face late tests having missed the draw at Brighton.

Guardiola may opt to give the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland and John Stones a rest ahead of their upcoming finals.

Likely line-ups

Brentford: Raya; Hickey, Mee, Pinnock, Henry; Jensen, Janelt, Onyeka; Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade

Man City: Ortega; Lewis, Stones, Laporte, Gomez; Silva, Phillips, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Alvarez, Palmer

Prediction

Brentford have shown consistently throughout the season that they can compete with the big boys and they will be desperate to end the season with a positive result against the champions. City have bigger things to worry about having already wrapped-up the title so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them held to another draw on Sunday. Brentford 1-1 Man City