Brentford’s Premier League campaign continues with an away game against Burnley on Saturday (3pm kick-off GMT).
The Bees suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to table-toppers Arsenal last time out, while Vincent Kompany’s side drew 2-2 with West Ham United at London Stadium.
Pre-match Analysis
Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Brentford must be wary of a Burnley side happy to shoot from distance
Brentford travel to Burnley this Saturday in a crucial Premier League encounter as the Bees look to stay above the danger zone.
It's been a tough time for Brentford. Since the beginning of February, Thomas Frank's side have faced Manchester City twice as well as Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal in what has been a rough fixture list.
Now it's a vital period for the Bees to get back to winning ways and charge up the table in a far more favourable end-of-season run-in.
Turf Moor is the destination on Saturday and Vincent Kompany's side have the worst home record in the league, having won just one game in front of their own fans and picking up five points there in total – less than the nine they have earned on the road.
While Brentford have gone five league games without a win (despite some good performances), spare a thought for Burnley fans who haven't seen their side win in the Premier League in their last 10 games. Only Everton fans (11 games) are waiting longer for a victory.
The Clarets have had just 292 shots in the Premier League (the second lowest, ahead of only Sheffield United). Perhaps an inability to create many clear-cut chances is why Burnley have the second-highest number of goals from outside of the box (8, only Manchester City have more). That works out at 30 per cent of their total goal tally coming from range, a surprisingly high figure in a sport where long-range goals are becoming rarer.
Funnily enough, two of the five goals Brentford have scored from outside of the box this season came against Burnley in the clash at Gtech Community Stadium. Both Bryan Mbeumo and Saman Ghoddos scored with super strikes after Yoane Wissa had put the Bees up from close range in a 3-0 win.
Burnley went down to 10 in that game back in October when Connor Roberts picked up a second yellow card in the second half. That was one of five sending offs Burnley have had in the 2023/24 campaign, the highest number in the league (alongside Liverpool).
Going forward, Brentford could find joy in wide areas at the weekend. Burnley have managed to block crosses only 27 times this season (the second fewest behind Arsenal – who may just be stopping those situations earlier), something the likes of Mads Roerslev and Sergio Reguilón could thrive on.
Balls into the box mean that Ivan Toney gets the service he thrives on, although Toney may face a tough aerial duel with Burnley defender Dara O'Shea. The Republic of Ireland international has won 87 aerials this season, the fifth-highest number in the league (Ethan Pinnock is fourth with 92) but will face a striker who will be desperate to get back on the scoresheet after not firing in his last four.
Should everything go right for Brentford on Saturday, perhaps fans can enjoy seeing the team move back up the table in the remaining games of the season.
Scout Report
Recent performances restore optimism at Turf Moor
There is no escaping the fact this season has been a challenging one for Burnley.
After storming their way to the Championship title last season with an exciting and entertaining style of play, there were undoubted hopes the drop to the second tier would be an anomaly and they would soon be back on their way to returning to the fold as an established Premier League side, as they had been for the six campaigns prior.
Their multi-million-pound summer transfer window suggested they would be going for it and, with the early focus on the other promoted sides, Sheffield United and Luton Town, being relegation candidates from the off, Vincent Kompany’s men found themselves away from the spotlight, in that respect.
Perhaps it was due to the heavy turnover in the squad – just three players who started the final game of 2022/23 were in the line-up for the first game of 2023/24 – but it has not gone that way.
By the start of December, they had lost 11 of their 13 league games and picked up just four points, which left them rooted to the bottom of the table. When striker Lyle Foster was ruled out for a month after reaching out for help with his mental health, they lost not only a key member of the squad, but their chief creative and goalscoring outlet.
“With what the team is doing in terms of effort and sacrifice every single day before crossing that line, they’ve been of the highest level,” said Kompany after two late West Ham goals robbed them of a first home win of the season on 25 November. “I just wish they get rewarded with results.”
His wish was granted the following weekend, when Burnley thumped Sheffield United 5-0 to avoid the unwanted status as the only team in English Football League history to lose their first eight home games of a season.
They picked up another four points from the next four games, which moved them to within five points of safety.
The turn of the year did not see a change in fortunes, however, and they have since fallen even further adrift. They are now 10 league games without a win and 10 points behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest with 10 games left to play.
That could all change if Everton and Forest are handed points deductions for breaching the Premier League’s spending rules, but they know they must take care of themselves and their performances first and foremost before concerning themselves with what-ifs.
But they are not down and out yet - and their recent displays have brought a smidgen of optimism. Most recently, against West Ham last Sunday, they deservedly took a 2-0 lead at London Stadium, courtesy of a stunner from David Datro Fofana and a Konstantinos Mavropanos own goal, before being denied an overdue win by super sub ex-Claret Danny Ings.
Kompany walked into his post-match press conference in east London in a deflated mood: “Maybe if I lean back on this chair, I won’t be able to see anyone, just eyebrows,” he joked.
Their final run of games after the international break is not particularly forgiving as they still have to face Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle and Tottenham – but they also still have to play Everton, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, so you can be sure they will not give up until the death.
In the Dugout
Vincent Kompany
Vincent Kompany started his playing career at Anderlecht, in his native Belgium, as a teenager in 2000.
He progressed through the youth ranks at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium to the first team, where he was part of the side that won the Belgian First Division in 2003/04, under Hugo Broos, and 2005/06, under Ariël Jacobs.
Top European clubs had already shown an interest in the defender during this early part of his career, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2006 that he moved on to Hamburg of the Bundesliga for €10 million.
An Achilles injury cut short his first season in Germany, but he managed 37 appearances in all competitions in 2007/08 and added a UEFA Intertoto Cup winner’s medal to his growing list of achievements.
In August 2008, Kompany signed for Manchester City, one month before Sheikh Mansour’s purchase of the club was completed. As a result, he became an integral part of the revolution at the Etihad Stadium. In the summer of 2011, he was named club captain and he would go on to lift four Premier League titles, four Carabao Cups, two FA Cups and two Community Shields, along with multiple personal accolades.
The later years of his time at the club were heavily disrupted by injury and he managed a total of only 59 Premier League appearances from the 2015/16 to the 2018/19 campaign. During the final weeks of the latter, he scored one of the division’s great goals, with a thumping drive against Leicester City that teed up City’s title win days later.
Later in May 2019, it was announced he would make a fairytale return to Anderlecht as player-manager, but he stepped down to focus on playing after a poor start and then took up the role on a permanent basis the following year after confirming his retirement after 17 years and more than 500 appearances.
He spent two years in the role, before returning to England to take over at Burnley on a long-term deal and is now the youngest manager in the Premier League at 37 – three years Wolves boss Gary O’Neil’s junior – and the eighth youngest in the top four divisions of English football.
The Gameplan
Andy Jones, Burnley reporter for The Athletic
Andy Jones, Burnley reporter for The Athletic, explains how Vincent Kompany is likely to set up his side on Saturday:
“It is probably not going to differ too much from what they have been doing, which is more of a 4-2-3-1 in possession and 4-4-2 out of possession.
“Providing it’s the same team they played against West Ham, they will have two in the middle of the park as a double pivot, shielding the defence, David Datro Fofana as the no.9 and then three interchanging in behind him.
“Kompany did not really change much between the Bournemouth and West Ham games and, when he is happy with a performance, he does not like to tweak things too much, so, unless there are injuries, the personnel is likely to be very similar.”
Read the full interview with Andy Jones
Team news
Frank delivers mixed injury update
Head coach Thomas Frank delivered a mixed injury update ahead of Brentford’s Premier League game against Burnley.
Captain Christian Nørgaard, who has started 26 of the Bees’ 28 Premier League games this season, will not make the trip to Turf Moor having sustained a back injury against Arsenal last time out - but the west Londoners could be boosted by the return of Bryan Mbeumo and Sergio Reguilón.
“[Nørgaard] is not available for the squad and that’s also why he’s not going away with Denmark,” Frank revealed. “We’ll take it week by week; hopefully it’s not a long one.”
Full-back Reguilón missed the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal with a minor hamstring issue, but he “should be fit and available” to face the Clarets.
Absent since the start of December due to an ankle injury, Mbeumo is touch-and-go for Saturday’s game.
The forward was in scintillating form during the first half of the season, with 10 goal involvements (7G, 3A) in 15 league appearances.
“He’s very close,” said Frank. “I have a decision to make, to maybe involve him in the squad this weekend.
“He’s been on the grass for a week, he looks good, and he’s one of our best players.
“I need to find out if it’s just a touch too early, or to bring him for the game against Burnley.”
Last Meeting
Brentford 3 Burnley 0 (Premier League, 21 October 2023)
Brentford returned to winning ways with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Burnley at Gtech Community Stadium.
Yoane Wissa poked Brentford ahead during a first half of near total dominance in west London.
Burnley offered slightly more after the break but superb late strikes from Bryan Mbeumo and Saman Ghoddos, either side of Connor Roberts' dismissal, secured the victory.
Mbeumo’s goal was a curling effort into the top corner from 20 yards, while Ghoddos sent a half-volley flying past James Trafford in the closing minutes that was later named Goal of the Month.
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