Last season, Manchester United decisively beat Brentford, twice, in weeks following a very lackluster result in the previous fixture. Well, they have the first part done already, having embarrassed themselves at home agaiNST Brighton in the curtain raiser. Now they’ll travel to London, to take on the Bees, who have a sort of defensive injury crisis going on. Both starting center backs, Kristoffer Ajer and Ethan Pinnock, are out, while Sergi Canos is struggling with a hamstring issue.
So it’s United’s injury-riddled and punch-less attack versus the very injury-riddled defense of a side just promoted last season. It’s the easily movable object and against the easy to resist force.
Manchester United at Brentford FC FYIs
Manchester United Team News: go here
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Kick off: 5:30pm local, Saturday Aug 13, Brentford Community Stadium
TV Channel: NBC
Google Result Probability looks like this for Saturday: a United win is 48%, a Draw is 27% and a Brentford win is only 25%. In other words, if you’re a Red Devils supporter, you got to like your chances here. Now on to the first team prediction
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction at Brentford FC
De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Lindelof, Shaw; McTominay, Fred; Fernandes, Sancho, Rashford; Ronaldo
Yes, Ronaldo starts, simple as that. He may be reviled by much of the fan base, but there are no other alternatives. Also, drop Maguire and hand the armband to Raphael Varane, Erik ten Hag! Do it, do it!
Prediction: United 2, Brentford 0
We are Bee-lievers in United this weekend!
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.