Brentford will be looking to halt a run of three defeats when they host Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League. The Black Country team is coming off of a victory over Chelsea on Christmas Eve. The Bees have had a full week to get ready for their festive matchup with Wolves.
Preview (Brentford vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Brentford has been given 10 days to reflect on their 2-1 loss to title-chasing Aston Villa on December 10. It extended the Bees’ Premier League losing streak to three games. It is the club’s worst run of short-term form since April. Thomas Frank’s team took the lead at the Gtech when former Hull City starlet Keane Lewis-Potter scored his first goal of the premier league season. However, the game changed when Ben Mee was sent off in the second half. The Villans scored late goals through Alex Moreno and Ollie Watkins. The latter did not hold back his celebrations against his former employers.
With 18th-place Luton Town only seven points behind the West Londoners as the New Year draws near. Brentford have lost five of their past six Premier League games. They will not be celebrating as they anxiously stare over their shoulders towards the relegation zone. No other Bees player has scored more than three goals thus far. Bryan Mbeumo leads his team in goalscoring rankings with seven top-flight strikes. The departure of Ivan Toney, the team’s top scorer from the previous season.
Even though Brentford’s home games against Aston Villa and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were always going to be difficult, they have recently shown that they can win all three points at the Gtech, as evidenced by the 3-1 victory over Rob Edwards’s Hatters on December 2, in which Shandon Baptiste scored just his second Premier League goal. Gary O’Neil’s team sent a directionless Chelsea to their 19th top-flight loss of the year. It puts more pressure on Blues head coach Mauricio Pochettino. Wolves’ capacity to rise to the big occasion at Molineux was on full display once again.
Team News
Frank will have to find Ethan Pinnock a new defensive partner since Brentford will be without center-back Mee for the next three games due to a careless tackle on Leon Bailey of Aston Villa last time out. As a result, on Wednesday night, Yelaupay and Neil Maupay are most likely to start in a two-man forward line. Because of the injuries to Aaron Hickey and Ricardo Henry, Frank’s team is now playing with second-choice wing-backs. Henry will miss the rest of the season because of a significant knee injury. Regarding the guests at the Gtech, Craig Dawson should be eligible for selection despite having to leave the game against Chelsea in the second half because of a nasty cut on his knee.
Despite a convincing victory over the Blues on Christmas Eve, O’Neil is expected to make changes to his starting lineup. For Wolves, it would be a tremendous belated Christmas present. Boubacar Traore, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, and Fabio Silva were unable to participate on Sunday afternoon due to illness, but O’Neil anticipates that some of his affected guys will return for the journey to West London.
Brentford 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
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