Brentford welcome Newcastle United to Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off GMT).

Thomas Frank’s side have won six Premier League games on home soil this season, dropping just two points from a possible 21.

In his pre-match press conference on Thursday, the Bees boss described Newcastle as his side's "biggest test" at the Gtech this term. The Magpies sit 12th after a thrilling 3-3 draw with league leaders Liverpool in midweek.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.

Tickets are available on the exchange for members with 10+ TAPs. Buy now.

Pre-match Analysis

Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Prolific Brentford looking to extend impressive home record

Brentford's excellent home record will face a tough test as they welcome Newcastle United to Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

The Bees remain one of three undefeated teams on home turf in the Premier League this season (alongside Arsenal and Brighton), but have scored more goals (22) and earned more points (19) at home than anyone else.

In fact, no team in the European top five leagues has scored as many home league goals.

Newcastle did well to earn a point in an entertaining 3-3 draw at St James' Park midweek against league pacesetters Liverpool.

The Magpies took the lead twice in the game (including a glorious Alexander Isak strike) and had the resilience to equalise late on having been 3-2 down.

Bruno Guimarães provided two assists in that game and as ever he will be a threat for Brentford’s midfield to neutralise. The Brazilian ranks fifth in the Premier League for through balls with nine in total.

The 27-year-old is also the most-fouled player in the Premier League this season having drawn 54 fouls – that's a statistic that also ranks him first out of the European top leagues. Following just behind Guimarães in that stat is Anthony Gordon (who scored the second against Liverpool) on 34 fouls.

Fouls (or the lack of them) could be an interesting thing to watch out for at the weekend. Brentford have committed the joint-fewest fouls in the league this season (just 110, the same number as Man City) while Newcastle (190) are, as you have guessed, the most fouled team. As a brief aside, only West Ham have been fouled fewer times (117) than Brentford (128).

That stat may prove important especially considering Newcastle earned their third goal midweek through an excellent Guimarães set-piece that Fabian Schär got on the end of.

Indeed, late goals are another thing that Brentford have to be wary of – especially considering the Bees often start the better of the two teams (scoring 17 first half goals to 10 in the second period). In that respect, the performance against Villa was something of an anomaly.

Meanwhile, Newcastle have scored the majority of their goals late on in games (12 second-half strikes to five in the first), and in particular from the 75th minute onwards until the end of stoppage time, when the Magpies have netted five times.

A win for Brentford at the weekend would help end the Magpies’ winning run against the Bees. Newcastle have won their last five games against Brentford which equates to all of the games in which Eddie Howe was in the dugout for the club. The 3-3 draw back in November 2021 was officially Howe's first game in charge, but saw the former Bournemouth boss coaching from a hotel room due to testing positive for Covid-19.

Even then though, a goal late on for Newcastle earned them a point with Allan Saint-Maximin making it 3-3 in the 75th minute.

Thomas Frank will be keen to get a first win over Howe on Saturday, but Brentford will have to be at their very best for the full 90 minutes.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Newcastle in need of consistency after ‘patchy’ start to the Premier League season

The issue with success is that increased expectation follows closely behind.

And after finishing inside the top four of the Premier League for the first time in two decades in 2022/23 - as well as reaching the Carabao Cup final and qualifying for the Champions League - Newcastle had a lot to live up to last season.

There had been extreme highs up to the start of last December; most notably opening with a 5-1 win against Aston Villa, thumping Sheffield United 8-0 and winning 4-1 against PSG in the first Champions League night at St James’ Park since March 2003.

All that without even mentioning wins over Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United and the fact Alexander Isak became the first Newcastle player to score 25 goals in all competitions since the great Alan Shearer netted 28 20 years earlier.

But there were pretty low lows, too. Sandro Tonali’s 10-month ban for breaching the FA’s betting regulations put the club in the spotlight and the Magpies particularly suffered at the end of 2023 and start of 2024, with a torrid run of six defeats in seven leaving them 11 points outside the top four.

They were out of the Carabao Cup before Christmas, by which time the dream of qualifying for the knockout rounds of the Champions League - or even dropping into the Europa League - was dead and buried.

“The group is in a good place, I don't see any negativity,” said manager Eddie Howe after losing to Manchester City on 13 January. “I see hurt because we aren't winning and that's what we're here to do.”

Things did start to pick up thereafter, though they finished with 11 points fewer than the year before.

The story of the Magpies’ season was similar to that of Brighton’s. Returning to European competition placed added strain on Eddie Howe’s squad and they suffered 41 injuries throughout the season - the joint-third most of any Premier League club - which took its toll.

While not securing a place in Europe for this term will have come as a great disappointment, Howe and his staff would have been hoping fewer fixtures, and thus less strain on the players, would have translated on the pitch. That has not really been the case - or certainly not to the extent some might have expected.

To say their form has been patchy would probably be the best way to summarise it.

Three wins and a draw put them third after four games. Five games without a win then knocked them down to 12th. Wins over Arsenal and Nottingham Forest looked to have put them back on track, but then taking just one point from matches against struggling sides West Ham and Crystal Palace knocked them off again.

As referenced by The Athletic’s Chris Waugh, the defensive solidity this season has been well received. They have kept three clean sheets, only conceded more than one in a game on four occasions.

It is at the other end they have suffered. Prior to Wednesday’s 3-3 draw with Liverpool, they had scored fewer goals than any of the teams in the top 14 places in the Premier League and underperformed their expected goals figure (17.55) by 3.55, having also only scored 14.

Right now, there is not an awful lot to worry about. There is already a nine-point gap between Ipswich in 18th and Bournemouth in 13th, yet only five points separating the teams from fifth to 13th, so if Newcastle start to string a few wins together over this hectic December, there is absolutely nothing to say a top six – or even top four – push is out of the question.

In the Dugout

Eddie Howe

Before turning his hand to management for the first time, Eddie Howe had a 13-year playing career as a defender, with all but two of his 312 senior appearances having been made in a Bournemouth shirt.

He was, however, forced to retire prematurely at the age of just 29 at the end of the 2006/07 season.

By this time, he was already managing the Cherries’ reserve team, a role he continued until September 2008, when manager Kevin Bond was sacked, concluding his time at the club, too.

Before long, he had been re-hired as a youth coach and, in January 2009, was appointed first-team manager after a short spell as caretaker, following Jimmy Quinn’s sacking.

The odds were stacked against Howe; Bournemouth were second bottom of League Two on New Year’s Day - having been handed a 17-point deduction at the start of the year.

Yet, he managed to guide his team to 12 wins from the final 21 games, which saw them miraculously survive by nine points.

Howe’s side were promoted to League One the following year but, in January 2011, he left the south coast for Burnley, where he stayed until October 2012, before returning to Bournemouth to take over from Paul Groves.

He, essentially, picked up where he left off, securing promotion to the Championship in April 2013 and to the Premier League for the first time two years later.

Bournemouth were relegated from the Premier League, after five consecutive seasons, in 2020, leading to Howe’s departure from Vitality Stadium by mutual consent.

After a 15-month break, he took over from Steve Bruce at Newcastle in November 2021, with the 3-3 draw against Brentford his first official game in charge, though he had to watch the game from a hotel room after contracting Covid-19.

Howe – who celebrated three years in charge last month - is currently the fifth-longest serving manager in the Premier League, after Pep Guardiola, Thomas Frank, Mikel Arteta and Marco Silva.

He is also on course to become only the second manager since Bobby Robson (1999 to 2004) to take charge of 150 Newcastle games.

The Gameplan

With The Athletic’s Chris Waugh

Chris Waugh, Newcastle United correspondent for The Athletic, explains how Eddie Howe is likely to set up his side on Saturday.

“Throughout his time at Newcastle, Howe has primarily gone for a 4-3-3 and that is likely to be the case, though he did tinker a lot during the second half against West Ham,” Waugh told brentfordfc.com.

“Joelinton has been operating as a wide forward, having been moved forward again from midfield, but I think he will drop back into midfield over the next few weeks because Newcastle have a couple of fitness problems in midfield and Howe is trying to find a way to get Harvey Barnes and Gordon into the same side.

“It will be Nick Pope in goal, Kieran Trippier or Tino Livramento at right-back, Fabian Schär and Dan Burn at centre-back, with Lewis Hall at left-back.

“The midfield depends on Bruno Guimarães and Joe Willock’s fitness, but it is likely to be Guimarães, Joelinton, Sean Longstaff, with Harvey Barnes on the left, Anthony Gordon on the right and Alexander Isak through the middle.

“The big issue Howe has had this season - which is a positive issue but, at the same time, he has not found the right balance – is that he has got players of Barnes and Sandro Tonali’s quality on the bench.”

Last Premier League starting XI v Liverpool (4-3-3): Pope; Livramento, Schär, Burn, Hall; Guimarães, Tonali, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Gordon

Team news

Frank 'hopeful' on Brentford duo

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank provided an update on Christian Nørgaard and Kristoffer Ajer during his pre-match press conference on Thursday.

Nørgaard missed the midweek trip to Aston Villa, while Ajer has been absent since October due to a foot injury.

“I’m still very hopeful that Nørgaard will be available,” said Frank.

“He trained today on the pitch, so that’s positive. Kristoffer Ajer [trained] as well.

“I’m more positive that Nørgaard will be involved than Ajer.”

Mathias Jensen (hamstring), Gustavo Nunes (back), Rico Henry (knee), Aaron Hickey (hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (knee) remain sidelined.

Match Officials

Robinson to set referee Saturday’s game at the Gtech

Referee: Tim Robinson

Assistants: Timothy Wood and Steven Meredith

Fourth official: Stephen Martin

Video assistant referee: Jarred Gillett

Tim Robinson officiated his first Premier League match in December 2019: Burnley’s 1-0 victory over Newcastle United.

In the 30 games that Robinson refereed last season, he showed 122 yellow cards. He did not produce a red card.

Robinson’s last visit to Gtech Community Stadium was for Brentford’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in November 2023.

Memorable Meeting

Newcastle United 3 Brentford 3 (Premier League, 20 November 2021)

Brentford recovered from conceding an early goal to pick up a point in a memorable 3-3 draw away to Newcastle United.

The Bees levelled within seconds of conceding the first of the afternoon’s six goals as Ivan Toney found the net.

Thomas Frank’s side went ahead twice thanks to Rico Henry and an own goal, but the Magpies responded and earned a share of the spoils in Eddie Howe’s first game as manager.