When Brentford spanked four goals past Manchester United without reply at the Gtech Community Stadium way back in August with the season still in its infancy, viewers struggled to unpick what they’d just seen unfold. Brought in as the saviour who would forge a new dawn and help United put the Ole Gunnar Solskjær banter era firmly in the club’s wing mirrors, Erik en Hag seemed as mystified as anyone by his side’s comically shambolic first-half performance in what was only his second game – and second consecutive defeat – in charge. “Making such mistakes, at our level, you just cannot make them,” he growled, before ordering those who made them into a hastily convened recovery session masquerading as a punishing cross-country run.
As is customary when a big club is humbled in such a fashion by supposed minnows, the majority of the post-match focus centred on the losers’ myriad shortcomings rather than the excellence of the victors who put them to the sword. In dismantling their visitors in such scintillating fashion, Thomas Frank and his players had simply given a sign of things to come. They have since beaten Liverpool and Manchester City. Only the current top three sides in the Premier League table have lost fewer games than them this season. Tonight, they will line up at Old Trafford attempting to complete a league double over Manchester United for the first time in 86 years.
While things have picked up for United since their inauspicious opening to the season, their most recent outing at Newcastle saw them revert to habits of old. They will need to buck up their ideas considerably if they are to avoid being out-pressed and out-flanked by a Brentford side that will almost certainly target David de Gea, one of United’s best and worst players this season. A maker of often stunning saves, the Spaniard increasingly resembles an accident waiting to happen whenever his side is in possession and the ball is at his feet. He and his defenders, many of whom probably still endure night terrors prompted by their shellacking by the Bees earlier this season, can expect to be swarmed repeatedly this evening whenever they attempt to play the ball out from the back.
“We are potentially going into the most difficult game of the season,” said Frank, buttering up the hosts in his pre-match presser. “We are going to the biggest away ground with those fans, against a very good side that are much more stable. Erik ten Hag and his staff have done a very good job.” While the Dane makes a fair point, it could be argued he has done a far better job with just a tiny fraction of the resources. A win for the visitors would add Brentford to the Big Cup qualification mix. Above them, Newcastle and Brighton are already doing their damnedest to take advantage of various Big Cup grandees’ current penchant for blunderbussing themselves in the foot.
While their owners’ vast wealth means it is surely only a matter of time before they are challenging for titles, Newcastle increasingly look like booking their return to Big Cup action ahead of schedule. Eddie Howe’s side travel to West Ham, the first of a largely reasonable 10-game run-in for the Magpies – although the mighty Brentford are up next.
Summer dreams: Matias Jensen celebrates scoring the second of Brentford’s four first-half goals against Manchester United, way back in August. Photograph: John Patrick Fletcher/Action Plus/Shutterstock
