Brentford vs Manchester United Predicted Lineups, Preview, Odds & Prediction

Brentford and Manchester United – 2 strong relegation candidates this season facing off in a potential 6 pointer this season (I’m joking, kind of). Both teams have certainly have less than ideal starts to the season. Man United have not seen much improvement in performance or results under Amorim in his second season, despite signing a brand new front-3. They do have 2 wins already, but those came against Burnley where they needed a stoppage time winner, and vs 10 men Chelsea. A draw with Fulham and losses to Arsenal and Manchester City round out United’s first 5 games, and things will need to improve significantly if Amorim wants to keep his job. Brentford are firmly relegation candidates after losing Manager Thomas Frank and their two best players in Mbeumo and Wissa. They have lost to Forest, Sunderland and Fulham, but did pick up a big point vs Chelsea and a win over Aston Villa, and are certainly capable of beating this Manchester United team on Saturday.

• Can Manchester United win consecutive league games for the first time ever under Amorim?
• Can Brentford get their second win of the season in their fight to stay up?
• Will Cunha start and who replaces the suspended Casemiro?

Find out all of that and much more in our preview of Brentford vs Manchester United. We have a match preview, predicted lineups, team and injury news, live odds, our score prediction and more for this GW6 matchup.

Match Details:

Fixture: Brentford vs Manchester United

Stadium: Gtech Community Stadium

Date: Saturday 27th September

Kick-off: 12:30pm

Premier League Head-to-Head Record:

This game has always produced goals in recent meetings. Manchester United have gotten the better of Brentford over their last 5 meetings, with 3 wins, a draw and 1 Brentford win. That Brentford win was in the last meeting between the two teams, at the back end of last season, so Amorim himself does not have a good record against Brentford.

Brentford Manchester United Last 5 Premier League Results

04/05/25 - Brentford 4-3 Manchester United

19/10/24 - Manchester United 2-1 Brentford

30/03/24 - Brentford 1-1 Manchester United

07/10/23 - Manchester United 2-1 Brentford

05/04/23 - Manchester United 1-0 Brentford

Brentford Overview and Form:

Brentford have had an up and down start to their season, but given the circumstances there is reason for optimism. After losing Thomas Frank, Mbeumo and Wissa things looked very bleak. Things look worse when they lost their season opener to Nottingham Forest, but the Bees bounced back the next weekend beating Aston Villa 1-0. Then came a tough loss in a 6 pointer to Sunderland, but again they bounced back nicking a point at home against Chelsea with a Carvalho 93rd minute equaliser. Last weekend they then suffered a bit of a thrashing to Fulham, losing 3-1 and being dominated for the majority of the match. Brentford sit 17th in the league with 4 points from 6 and their upcoming fixtures are brutal, so they need to take something from this game against a weak United side.

Under Keith Andrews, Brentford are actually showing very promising signs as an attacking outfit. They have scored in every single game this season which can only be said for a handful of teams, and sit 11th in the league in xG – and if those kinds of numbers persist Brentford will absolutely get some wins on the board against bottom half opposition and should avoid relegation. Schade has continued his fine form from last season and a fit Thiago looks like a player. Damsgaard is the conductor and creator of nearly everything good Brentford do in attack, and with contributions from Carvalho and Ouattara, Brentford might be able to continue this level of attacking output deep into the season.

Defensively is where Brentford have struggled, conceding in every game bar the win over Villa, and have conceded 10 goals in 5 league games. They conceded 3 to Fulham last weekend, even with the shift to a back-5. Surprisingly they do sit 8th from bottom in xG conceded which again does provide some glimmer of hope if advanced stats are your thing. They will need to improve defensively and quickly if they are to avoid being in a relegation fight that goes to the death.

Brentford will look to defend compactly and exploit the fact that Amorim’s system is so rigid that Keith Andrews and his coaching staff will know how to defend it. They will look to hit United in transition and really put pressure on players like Ugarte, Maguire and De Ligt to defend athletes like Schade, Damsgaard and potentially Ouattara. Brentford could absolutely get joy out of United and get a statement result in this one.

Manchester United Overview and Form:

Ruben Amorim is overseeing the worst era of Manchester United football in Premier League history. They are yet to win consecutive league games under his regime. They have won 2 games this season, however those wins are a 3-2 against promoted Burnley where they needed a stoppage time penalty to go ahead, and a 2-1 win over Chelsea who had 10 men for the majority of the game. They have lost to Arsenal and City, and drawn with Fulham. A tough opening fixture list to have played through 5 games, yes, however the performances leave so much to be desired and things will have to change quickly if United want to make any kind of push to finish in the European spots this season.

From an in possession and attacking standpoint, United are poor if you watch the games. The numbers, being xG, which United are 1st in the entire league for, suggest United must have fixed their in possession and chance creation issues and Mbeumo, Cunha and Sesko have fixed everything. It simply is not the case, there are still plenty of structural issues with United going forward and across a larger sample they will drop in all of the advanced metrics. Adding 3 talented forwards does of course help, and when Amad plays wing-back they do look dangerous at times, and their talent could and probably should overwhelm a weak Brentford defence.

Defensively United also look a mess. They don’t look like they know how to press and play a high line or play a mid to low block, and have conceded in every game this season, including 2 to Burnley and 3 to a City team that had lost their previous 2 games before that one. They have conceded 8 goals in 5 games so far this season which does not seem that bad, but they have conceded the 6th most xG in the entire league. De Ligt has had a solid start to the season and Yoro is definitely a talented player, especially on the ball, but overall United’s defensive personnel is poor. Ugarte can’t cover ground well and doesn’t actually shield a defence well, Bruno Fernandes is not a deep lying midfielder who does all of his defensive duties to a T, and Maguire and De Ligt lack pace and are prone to a mistakes. I don’t see how this situation gets better without Amorim losing his job.

United will have to look to dominate this game in possession and control proceedings against a Brentford team who is a strong relegation candidate. They are just not very good at penning a team in, counter pressing well and picking the lock of a compact, well drilled defence. They will have to look to avoid presenting transition opportunities to Brentford and to defend them well when they do get caught on the counter. If United can get the first goal, maybe they can draw Brentford on to them and hurt Brentford when they present space in behind. This is a must win game for United and Amorim.

Match Betting Odds:

Brentford: 23/10

Draw: 13/5

Manchester United: 1/1

Both Teams to Score Odds: 

Yes: 4/7

No: 27/20

Player to Score Odds:

Sesko: 31/20 (Great value and my favourite bet!)

Cunha: 13/8

Betrino is currently offering over 20% better value Sesko to score compared with the average market line at most major sports books!

 

Lineups will be updated throughout the week in live time as and when injury and lineup news is announced.

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Brentford Predicted Lineup:

Brentford Predicted Lineups GW6

GK - Kelleher

RWB - Kayode

CB - Van den Berg

CB - Collins

CB - Pinnock

LWB - Lewis-Potter

CM - Henderson

CM - Yarmoliuk

CM - Damsgaard

ST - Thiago

ST - Schade

Brentford Team News:

Pinnock will play if Brentford stick with their 5-3-2. If they move back to a 4-3-2-1 then Pinnock would drop to the bench with Ouattara likely coming into the starting lineup to fill the extra forward spot at RW.

If this is Keith Andrews preferred system, then this is his strongest starting lineup.

Brentford Players to Watch:

Pinnock: Will start while Keith Andrews persists with this 5 at the back system.

Henderson: Looks to be a locked in starter in midfield alongside Yarmoliuk and Damsgaard.

Ouattara: Would start at RW if they shifted to a back 4 with the extra CB Pinnock dropping to the bench.

Manchester United Predicted Lineup:

Manchester United Predicted Lineups GW6

GK - Bayindir

RWB - Mazraoui

CB - De Ligt

CB - Maguire

CB - Yoro

LWB - Dorgu

CM - Ugarte

CM - Fernandes

RAM - Mbeumo

LAM - Cunha

ST - Sesko

Manchester United Team News:

Ruben Amorim revealed Amad will not be with the squad for this weekends game against Brentford. He said “Amad is not here, someone in his family passed away so we are giving all the support to Amad. We understood it was important to him to have his time and to return home”. Mazraoui will start at right wing-back.

Cunha returned from his hamstring injury in GW6 vs Chelsea. The Brazilian started on the bench and was subbed on in the 64th minute and completed the game without re-injury. He will start against Brentford on Saturday.

Casemiro is now suspended for 1 match after picking up a red card against Chelsea last weekend. He will be available again in GW7. Ugarte will replace him in the starting XI. Mount could, but I doubt Amorim would do that.

With Cunha now back and starting in the left 10 role alongside Mbeumo, Amad for this game will shift to right wing-back. Mazraoui has played very well there the last 2 games, but against a Brentford team United should look to be on the front against, Amad should start. United’s attack looks much more dangerous with him at RWB.

Bayindir has given Amorim no reason to drop him for Lammens yet. He will start.

Yoro has to come in for Shaw. This experiment has to end. I’m a Liverpool fan and it frustrates me. Maguire and De Ligt should be locks to start, although both are better suited to the central CB role rather than the wide RCB role.

Sesko of course will start.

Manchester Players to Watch:

Cunha: Returned from injury last weekend against Chelsea. Will start vs Brentford.

Bayindir: Will continue to start for now. Has not given Amorim a reason to bench him for Lammens yet.

Mazraoui: Drops to bench with Amad playing RWB against a Brentford team United should look to attack.

Casemiro: Suspended 1 game due to the red card he got against Chelsea.

Ugarte: Will start in Casemiro’s place.

Mount: Returned from injury against Chelsea, started on the bench. Will likely be on the bench again.

Dalot: Out.

Brentford vs Manchester United Preview & Predicted Score:

Brentford will likely stick with the 5-3-2 Keith Andrews has elected to go with in their last 2 league games, while Amorim and United will of course play their standard 3-4-3 system.

Manchester United will look to carry the momentum of a big win over Chelsea last weekend and use Cunha’s return to the starting lineup to propel them to the first set of back-to-back wins in the Amorim era. United should be able to create plenty of chances and almost certainly will score in this one, but it is whether they can either outscore Brentford or keep them out.

Brentford will look to defend compactly and doggedly and then punish Manchester United on the counter with all of their athletes. They can also use the extra man in midfield to their advantage, making it hard for United to establish control in the middle of the park, winning duels and second balls, and making Brentford hard to play through. If they can keep this one close, Brentford can absolutely take something from this game.

While I can see Brentford causing United issues on the counter and punishing them at least once, I do think Mbeumo, Cunha, Sesko, Fernandes and Amad will undo Brentford’s defence and United should be able to come away from the Gtech with all 3 points. If they are remotely an improved or serious team, they should. This game will tell us a lot after some flukey games that are hard to analyse, like their opener against Arsenal, and the game against Chelsea going the way it did with the early Sanchez red card.

Score Prediction: Brentford 1-2 Manchester United