Wednesday’s Premier League action features 2 survivors of the postponed matchday curse, Leicester vs Spurs at 19:30 is swiftly followed by Brentford vs Manchester United at 20:00. Our game in focus is the unpredictable Brentford playing host to a Manchester team still not looking comfortable in their new identity. The return of Ronaldo, a card happy ref and a manager with the best hair in the game set the scene for an exciting clash on Wednesday night. I’ve selected 3 Bet Builder tips and a complementary Cheat Sheet to help you get in on the action tomorrow.
Brentford’s form at a glance paints an erratic picture. They’ve notched up 6 wins, 5 draws. and 10 losses in 21 games which has earned them 14th place in the league. As a newly promoted club they are in a real sweet spot, there’s considerable distance between themselves and the relegation strugglers and they have the opportunity to catapult themselves to 9th place with a win tomorrow if Leicester drop all 3 points. Their squad will be robust enough to challenge United even with the absence of Goode, Jorgensen, and Dasilva to injury, and Onyeka representing the Super Eagles at AFCON.
The Community Stadium has been kind to them this Season with 4 of their 6 wins this season playing out in front of their home fans and this is a growing trend with 3 of these victories occurring in their last 4 home matches. They will be looking to reverse their fortunes against United from two consecutive league defeats to Liverpool and Southampton which saw them ship 7 goals and score only once.
Manchester United will welcome the return of the irreplicable Cristiano Ronaldo to the field following one of the games of the season against Aston Villa on Saturday. There solid performance for the majority of the game was overshadowed by the dramatic return of Philippe Coutinho, who scored and (basically) assisted a goal in the 2-goal comeback for Villa which forced United to settle for a draw. Ironically, Coutinho is the type of player that United could do with providing service for their Portuguese striker and the absence of a real number 10 has been apparent at times this season. Disregarding the result, last week’s performance should bode well for United fans, and they will be confident that they should avoid adding another loss to Rangnick’s first defeat against Wolves as their manager.
Pogba and Bailly will be the two main absentees from Wednesday’s match alongside the forgotten prodigal son Anthony Martial. Their quest for top 4 has seen them treading water in 7th below Spurs who have 2 games in hand. With Ronaldo returning it’s now or never for this stalling side who have far more talent than their points tally suggests, and a win would give them a precarious grasp on 6th place. These two sides haven’t met in the league since 1947 which gives this unpredictable clash another dimension of uncertainty. I reckon this isn’t one to miss, so check the Cheat Sheet, grab the popcorn, and enjoy some midweek action!
Brentford vs Man United Bet Builder Tips
Christian Nørgaard To Be Carded
As mentioned previously, the referee in charge of the fixture isn’t shy of disciplining badly behaved players. From the Cheat Sheet you can see that Premier league stalwart Andre Marriner averages 4.40 yellow cards per game and a respectable 0.2 reds. This puts him very comfortably in the top half of no-nonsense card-happy referees this season. My pick for a booking on Wednesday night is none other than combative Danish midfielder Christian Nørgaard.
The central midfielder has featured in all but 1 of Brentford’s Premier League outings this season and with the absence of Frank Onyeka, he will be one of the first names on the team sheet for the The Bees. Out of the regular starters he has the most fouls committed per game at 2.45 and the 2nd most yellow cards with a tally of 5 for the season. In only 2 of his 20 appearances this season he has not played the full 90 minutes. This is a crucial stat for this selection because it ensures he will have the longevity on the pitch to expose himself to the ref’s card book in the final minutes of the match where teams will be chasing a goal and tackles will be flying in.
Manchester United have the capacity to gain fouls in the middle of the park where Nørgaard will be patrolling. Bruno Fernandes, Mctominay, and Fred have all drawn consistently high numbers of fouls in their central roles. Similarly, newcomer Anthony Elanga has proven problematic for opposition midfielders and lightly raced Van de Beek echoes similar stats from the bench. Brentford suffer 1.8 yellows a game at home, and I believe Christian Nørgaard will be propping up this stat for them with odds on Paddy Power of 3.3.
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Prediction: Christian Nørgaard To Be Carded
Anthony Elanga to Have 2+ Shots
Young Swedish talent Anthony Elanga made the starting line-up last week against Villa and I expect him to do so again. His impressive performance on his first Premier League start should be enough to warrant a 2nd audition in light of lacklustre performances from Rashford and Sancho. His big-name competition for the starting spot had seen his playing time limited, but now there is real excitement about the youngster from the United camp prompting Lindelof to state he has a “great future” ahead of him at the club.
The obvious number one spot for attempted shots goes to Cristiano Ronaldo with an impressive 3.82. Considering the way Ronaldo plays, it is an impressive feat by young Elanga to be coming a close second with 3.64 attempted shots per game. His accuracy leaves a little to be desired, only 0.91 of these attempted shots actually find the target which makes me reluctant to opt for a shot on target. Similarly, the return of Ronaldo could see his opportunities to shoot being funnelled elsewhere so I don’t expect him to attempt as close to 4 as he usually does.
Brentford’s high intensity attacking football has seen them gain the admiration of neutral fans this season. It has also seen them ship 7 goals in the last 2 games and their open style of football plays into the hands of a team so blessed with attacking talent such as United. I’m expecting a high number of shooting opportunities to fall to United attackers and Elanga has the incentive to capitalise on a successful start last week and impress the manager. His propensity to shoot makes 2+ shots look good value for this match with odds of 1.17.
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Prediction: Anthony Elanga to Have 2+ Shots
Cristiano Ronaldo to Score Anytime
Surprise surprise the king is back on Wednesday. Cristiano Ronaldo has been absent due to a hip issue that has seen him miss both ties against Aston Villa in the cup and the league respectively. Cavani’s opportunity to nail down the number 9 role was completely hypothetical and, in any case, not taken with a forgettable performance. When Cristiano Ronaldo is fit, he starts, and most of the time he tends to score too.
CR7 will be relishing the opportunity to return to the field against Brentford’s leaky defence. The 7 goals conceded in their last 2 fixtures is indicative of their defensive performance this season, they have conceded on average 1.57 goals per game this season in the league. This isn’t the worse showing in the league, but they will be fending off Manchester United’s top scorer in all competitions this season who will be looking to continue their leaky defensive streak.
Ronaldo has never been shy of trying to get the ball in the net, this season he’s attempted 3.82 shots per game with 1.32 of those hitting the target. He is only behind Mason Greenwood for both stats across the 2 teams and with 14 goals in all competitions this season he tops the scoring charts for the 2 sides. Remarkably, he’s managed a goal every 123 minutes in a Manchester United shirt this season which is an average of 0.73 goals per game for the striker. If he’s fully recovered this selection is a no-brainer for me and the stats back up this selection, its available for odds of 1.83 on Paddy Power.
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Prediction: Cristiano Ronaldo to Score Anytime
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How to watch Brentford v Man United in the Premier League
📅 When is Brentford v Man United? / Wednesday, 19th January 2022, 20:00
🏟 Where is Brentford v Man United? / Community Stadium (Brentford)
📺 What TV channel is Brentford v Man United on? / BT Sport 1
🟨 …And who is the referee for Brentford v Man United? / Andre Marriner 🏴
