After a gameless weekend, Brentford return to Premier League action on Wednesday night with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The match kicks off at 7.30pm and will be broadcast live on TNT Sports 2.
The Bees are boosted by a 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest last time out – Ivan Toney marking his comeback with a goal – while in-form Spurs have taken 13 points from their last six fixtures.
Pre-match Analysis
Alex Lawes, Playmaker Stats: Expect goals at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
The return of Ivan Toney dominated Brentford’s most recent outing as he scored the opener in the Bees’ 3-2 defeat of Nottingham Forest at Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford are currently sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League but gave themselves some breathing room with that victory in west London.
Prior to that much-needed win, Thomas Frank’s men had managed just one victory in their previous 10 matches across all competitions, but the aforementioned return of Toney gave Brentford a major boost to get all three points.
What has been a common theme of Thomas Frank’s side ever since gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2021 has been their pragmatism and ability to control games and game situations.
They have followed opponent-specific plans since their rise to the top flight and that has allowed them to bloody the nose of some of the leading teams in the country; most notably doing the double over a Manchester City side that went on to win the treble last season.
This season, though, whether due to the injury and availability crisis that has occurred throughout this campaign or for another specifically tactical reason, Brentford have been a little more open this year.
For example, that 3-2 victory over Forest means that eight of their last nine matches have featured both teams scoring in the game and their 20 matches have produced an average of 3.1 goals per game so far this season.
They now face a Tottenham Hotspur side that, under the management of Ange Postecoglou, have been lauded for their progressive and proactive style of football; following more of a tactical ideology no matter which opponent they face.
Spurs’ style of football has not quite been as effective as it could have been this season, but it has been entertaining and at least inspired hope for the future within their fan base.
There has been 75 goals scored in their 21 Premier League matches so far this year at an average of over 3.5 goals per game.
The reverse fixture between Brentford and Spurs saw four goals scored before half-time on the opening day of the campaign, with 29 shots on goal over the course of the 90 minutes.
Given the way the two sides have gone about their business so far this season, another thrilling encounter is to be expected in north London.
Scout Report
Spurs back on track with four wins from their last six Premier League games
The start of the 2023/24 season marked the beginning of a new era for Tottenham Hotspur.
Ange Postecoglou came in from Celtic to take the hotseat in the hopes of bringing some overdue silverware to north London. But, it’s most notably an era – for the first time in nine seasons – without Harry Kane leading the line.
Speculation had been rife over the summer that Spurs had seen the last of the England captain, whose exit for pastures new had long been mooted. In June, Bayern Munich submitted a bid that was rebuffed and, as Kane featured in pre-season, there was talk that he did not want to upset Postecoglou’s preparation by departing at a late stage and leaving him and his team-mates in the lurch.
Those ideals soon went out the window. It was better to sell Kane for big money as he entered the final year of his contract than lose one of Europe’s most deadly strikers for free 12 months later.
Three days before the start of the new season – on 10 August – Tottenham and Bayern agreed a deal worth a reported £86.4m to take the 30-year-old to the Allianz Arena. The task of scoring the 48 goals needed to set a new all-time Premier League scoring record would have to wait for a few years, at least.
Despite the timing, it did not come as much of a shock. Kane’s profile and ability meant it was only a matter of time before he joined a European giant at home or abroad, so Spurs were not particularly rocked as a result. In fact, perhaps it was the inadvertent catalyst they needed.
After coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium on the opening weekend of the season, Spurs breezed their way to eight wins and a draw in the next nine games. The so-called ‘Ange-Ball’ approach had seen them rocket to the top of the league and, by the start of November, they had opened up a two-point lead over second-placed Arsenal.
“Let them dream,” Postecoglou said after the 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on 27 October. “It’s what being a football fan is all about. It’s fair to say this lot have suffered a fair bit, so I’m certainly not going to dampen that.”
No sooner had they got to that point, the carpet was ripped from beneath them. Micky van den Ven and the influential James Maddison – who had scored three goals and assisted another six in the first 11 league games – were both sidelined from the start of November and Cristian Romero also later missed three games through suspension. The form suffered as a consequence.
On 6 November, they took the lead against Chelsea yet ended up losing 4-1. They also took the lead against Wolves, Aston Villa, Manchester City and West Ham, but, in the end, took just a solitary point from all five matches combined. Though they were creating chances and putting in decent enough performances, they were often not converting those chances and, from the outside, it looked as though their season was on the verge of unravelling.
Since then, though, Spurs appear to have got right back into the groove. Richarlison is bang in form – with six goals in his last eight games - and they have taken 13 of the last 18 points on offer, meaning they are three points off second-placed City and current leaders Liverpool.
In addition, Maddison, Van de Ven and Rodrigo Bentancur – who missed six of the seven league games in December due to injury – are back fit and ready to tackle what remains of the season.
Ex-Chelsea forward Timo Werner has been brought in on loan, too, while they have signed highly rated Romanian defender Radu Drăgușin from Genoa.
With Spurs having zero commitments in any other competition than the Premier League from here on in, they might just be the ones to watch over the next four months.
In the Dugout
Ange Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou started out in management in his native Australia with South Melbourne, where he had spent his entire playing career.
After two years as assistant, he was handed the head coach role in 1996 and spent another four successful years at the club, before leaving to work with Australia Under-17s and U20s national teams for the next seven years.
Having failed to guide the U20s to the 2007 World Cup in Canada, he left the national set-up to coach Greek outfit Panachaiki and later Whittlesea Zebras.
In 2009, he took over at Brisbane Roar and won the A-League Championship in 2010/11 and 2011/12, before moving on to Melbourne Victory, where he was unable to produce a similar level of success.
Postecogolou’s tenure at AAMI Park concluded prematurely, however, as he was appointed head coach of the senior Australia men’s team in October 2013. He oversaw an encouraging group-stage campaign at the 2014 World Cup and won the Asian Cup the following year.
The Socceroos later qualified for the 2018 World Cup, but he resigned shortly afterwards to join Yokohama F Marinos of the J-League. He would go on to guide the club to its first title in 15 years in 2019.
The 57-year-old arrived in north London this summer after two incredible years at Celtic. He won an unbelievable 83 of his 113 games in charge in Glasgow, on the way to two Scottish Premiership titles, one Scottish Cup and two Scottish League Cups.
His current record as Spurs boss in all competitions stands at: played 24, won 13, drawn 4, lost 7, scored 46, conceded 33.
The Gameplan
With Rob Guest, Tottenham Hotspur reporter for football.london
Rob Guest, Tottenham Hotspur reporter for football.london, explains how Ange Postecoglu is likely to set up his side on Wednesday night:
“It is usually a 4-3-3 and the defence pretty much picks itself, with Vicario in goal behind Porro, Romero, Van de Ven and Udogie. Porro and Udogie like coming forward and helping out with the attack; they move into central areas, so that is something Brentford will have to be wary of.
“In midfield, Bentancur will be pulling the strings and you would like to think it would be Maddison and another – Oliver Skipp or Kulusevski – looking to influence things further forward.
“In attack, it will be Richarlison through the middle and then two of Werner, Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson out wide.”
Read the full interview with Rob Guest
Team News
Nørgaard available for Spurs clash
Midfielder Christian Nørgaard is available for Brentford’s Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Bees captain worryingly limped off after a challenge from Wolverhampton Wanderers’ João Gomes during an FA Cup clash earlier this month and has missed the last two games with a foot injury. But head coach Thomas Frank confirmed that Nørgaard is fit again and could feature in north London on Wednesday night.
“Christian Nørgaard is involved in the squad tomorrow and that’s very positive,” Frank began.
“It’s been a short turnaround after the injury he got against Wolves in the first leg of the FA Cup game.”
Aaron Hickey, Bryan Mbeumo and Kevin Schade are the Bees’ long-term absentees, while on-loan full-back Sergio Reguilón cannot play against his parent club.
Brentford are also without Saman Ghoddos, Frank Onyeka and Yoane Wissa; the trio are currently away on international duty with Iran, Nigeria and DR Congo respectively.
Match Officials
Coote handed second Brentford assignment of the season
Referee: David Coote
Assistants: Timothy Wood and Craig Taylor
Fourth official: Tony Harrington
Video assistant referee: Michael Salisbury
Additional video assistant referee: Steven Meredith
Nottinghamshire FA referee David Coote will be the man in charge on Wednesday night.
Coote, the son of former Nottinghamshire CCC batsman David Edward Coote, started refereeing as a 16-years-old, working his way up from the Notts Alliance League to the Conference North, before his promotion to the Football League list in 2010.
In May 2014, he was the referee for the League One play-off final at Wembley between Leyton Orient and Rotherham United and took charge of his first Premier League game in April 2018.
Coote officiated Aston Villa’s visit to Gtech Community on 17 December. Unai Emery’s side ran out 2-1 winners in an eventful game that saw Coote show 10 yellow cards and two reds.
Last Meeting
Brentford 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Premier League, 13 August 2023)
Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa both scored as Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur traded four goals on an entertaining Sunday afternoon in west London.
The goals all came in the first half with Ange Postecoglu’s Tottenham taking an early lead through Cristian Romero. Brentford hit back thanks to Mbeumo’s cool penalty and Wissa’s deflected shot to hold the advantage heading into 11 minutes stoppage-time.
They couldn’t, however, get through to half-time in front; Emerson Royal firing home from the edge of the box to bring the scores level.
The second half didn’t quite live up to the first in terms of goalmouth action but the chances which did come fell mainly to Spurs.
On his home debut, Mark Flekken made a pair of fine saves to keep out Heung-min Son and Richarlison to extend Brentford’s unbeaten streak on the opening day of the Premier League season to three games.