Bristol City were knocked off the top spot in the Championship last weekend after losing away at Birmingham. They will be desperate to regain a bit of form and momentum following that loss and head to Brentford on Tuesday, to face a team yet to win this season. Brentford have struggled to get going and have lost both of their games so far, one at home and one away.
The game on Tuesday gives Brentford a second home game as they look to pick up their first points of the season. While Bristol City did lose on Saturday, they really impressed on the opening day and if they turn up and play like that, they will be very hard to beat.
Brentford Form
On the opening day of the season, Brentford travelled to Sheffield United and were probably unfortunate to come away from that game with nothing. They lost the game 1-0 to the newly promoted side, and failed to find the back of the net despite creating a few chances. That wasn’t the ideal start and they need to find a way to pick up points away from home if they are to have the success they want.
At home on Saturday they did manage to find the net three times, but unfortunately for them they conceded four goals and lost a seven goal thriller 4-3 to Nottingham Forest. While they will have been happy to score three, conceding four goals on their home pitch is something no team can afford to do in the Championship. With Bristol City scoring freely in their opening game and their League Cup game, Brentford need to tighten up in this one if they are to win the game.
Bristol City Form
On the opening day of the season, Bristol City were fantastic, beating Barnsley 3-1 and leading that game by 3-0 after just 30 minutes. They were similarly impressive in the League Cup game at home to Plymouth, eventually beating them 5-0. Eight goals in their first two games left the Bristol fans feeling great about their team’s prospects for the season.
On Saturday though, they struggled to break down Birmingham in their first away game of the season and lost the game 2-1. That was despite taking an early lead in the game when Bobby Reid scored after just one minute. They did create chances though and probably should have come away with something from the game.
Team News
Brentford need to shore up their defence after Saturday’s game where they conceded four goals. That will be important for them here, especially facing an attack who seems to be creating a lot of chances per game so far. Youngster Neal Maupay came on as a substitute on Saturday and scored a late goal to make the game 4-3. He did well when coming on and really put forward his case to start in this game so it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw him in the starting eleven.
We may only be at the start of the season but Bobby Reid and Famara Diedhiou have put together a great partnership so far for Bristol City, with Reid scoring three goals in the opening league games. Diedhiou has also looked very dangerous and I expect these two to continue making chances and scoring goals. Brentford are going to have to come up with a plan to stop them in this game.
Top Betting Tips
I do think that Brentford will eventually move away from the bottom of the table and be safe this season, although they have struggled in their opening two games. Their opening game had optimism, but a failure to finish their chances while on Saturday they did take their chances, but played poor defensively. It all points to them not quite being ready, eventually they will click but right now I am happy to go against them.
Bristol City have started ok, scoring a lot of goals and they have a strike partnership that looks like it could become deadly in this league. They look creative and threatening while attacking and I am happy to side with them again and back them to beat Brentford. Bristol City can be backed at 5/2 with Ladbrokes, which I think offers very good value and is a price I am happy to take. Brentford will eventually improve, but as we are now, Bristol City look good value to go to Brentford and get a win from the game.