Manchester United will be aiming to give their top-four hopes a boost when they make the trip to West London to face Brentford.
The Reds currently sit seventh in the table, five points behind fourth placed West Ham, whilst Brentford sit in 14th, ten points clear of the relegation zone.
Brentford come into tomorrow night’s game off the back of two straight league defeats to Liverpool and Southampton – conceding seven goals in that time and only mustering up one goal of their own.
The Bees have not beaten United since 1938, but tomorrow’s contest will be the first meeting between the two teams since 1947.
United come into this one off the back of a hugely frustrating draw against Aston Villa which saw the team throw away a two goal lead in the final 15 minutes. For the first 70 minutes of the match, it was one of the better performances we had seen under Rangnick but the defensive fragilities cost United dearly.
United have dropped a total of 28 points which leaves them outside of the top four and behind the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham.
Tottenham sit just four points behind West Ham with four games in hand and the situation looks perilous for United with Wolverhampton Wanderers just a single point behind the Red Devils.
The Reds have only won four league away matches this season, but the Reds are undefeated on the travels since the bruising 4-1 defeat to Watford which led to the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Wednesday night will be a tough test for United with many teams struggling at the Brentford Community Stadium. Fans were encouraged by the team’s performance on Saturday which saw Rangnick deploy a 4-3-3 with Bruno Fernandes dropping deeper to support Fred and Nemanja Matic. Fernandes, who stalled contract talks with the club – looked back to his best on Saturday and will be hoping to continue that form tomorrow night.
Team News
Ralf Rangnick made three changes to the lineup on Saturday against Villa as Scott McTominay and Luke Shaw were unavailable due to suspension. Club captain Harry Maguire could also return after being an unused substitute on Saturday evening. Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo both missed the trip to Villa Park with their respective injury concerns and Rangnick is hopeful that both will be available after not being risked on the trip to the Midlands.
As for the hosts, they were without David Raya, Julian Jeanvier, Tariqe Fosu, Zanka, Charlie Goode and Josh Dasilva for Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool. Frank Onyeka like Eric Bailly and Hannibal is away on international duty with Nigeria – competing in the Africa Cup of Nations. Full-back Rico Henry made his return to the starting eleven last Sunday but was replaced after 49 minutes by Sergi Canos who is also returning from injury.
Form Guide
United have still only lost once under Rangnick, whose eight league games otherwise are two draws and three wins. The Reds hold the best record for scoring in every away match this season – ten games in total.
Brentford’s previous two games in the league have ended in heavy defeats with a 4-1 loss to Southampton and a 3-0 loss to Liverpool. Thomas Frank’s team have only played one home league game since the turn of the new year which saw them topple Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa 2-1. They have also hosted Chelsea and Manchester City since Christmas – losing 1-0 and 2-0 respectively.
Tomorrow night is a must win for Rangnick’s men with the need to apply pressure to West Ham before facing them on Saturday.
