Match preview: Brentford v Leicester City

Brentford welcome Leicester City to the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

Despite being reduced to 10 men against Everton following Christian Nørgaard’s 41st-minute dismissal, Thomas Frank’s side held on to secure their first Premier League clean sheet and first away point of the season last time out.

Nørgaard’s red card has since been overturned, meaning the Bees captain is free this weekend.

Leicester were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea on Saturday and parted company with manager Steve Cooper the following day.

Cooper was dismissed with the Foxes 16th in the Premier League table after 12 games.

Analysis before match

Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats: Brentford must be wary of Buonanotte

Brentford take on a managerless Leicester City on Saturday.

The Foxes are third in the Premier League for tackles per game on average with 20.9 behind only Crystal Palace and Manchester United.

Also aerially, Leicester is a threat, winning 14.2 aerials per game. game average, which ranks them fourth in the league.

Of course, they are likely to face their match against Brentford, who are typically first in this category with 18 aerials per game. match average.

While Leicester have the lowest shots per game average in the Premier League (9.8), with 15 goals this campaign they have still scored more league goals than Newcastle and Manchester United (13).

The Foxes are actually only one of three teams to exceed their xG this season with a positive score of +1.28xG. Wolverhampton Wanderers are way ahead in this category (+5.51xG), but interestingly the Bees are the only other team ‘in the black’ with +0.81xG.

Ben Dawson will oversee the game at the Gtech Community Stadium with the former Newcastle United youth coach hoping his players impress ahead of the appointment of the new manager.

While Leicester have injury problems and will be without one of their best players this year, Abdul Fatawu, they will be able to welcome the return of the exciting Facundo Buonanotte until the end of the season after the Argentine served a suspension last time out.

The on-loan Brighton playmaker is one of just four teenagers to score in the Premier League this season (along with Than Nwaneri, Jack Hinshelwood and Tyler Dibling), but the only one of those to score more than once with the 19-year-old netting three times in the league so far.

Buonanotte is also fourth in the Premier League for average runs per game with 0.4 (the same as Mikkel Damsgaard). That’s more than the likes of Cole Palmer, Savinho and Youri Tielemans with only Dwight McNeil and Alex Iwobi leading the rankings (0.5).

Despite the potential danger of young Buonanotte and a Leicester side with a point to prove, Brentford will simply want a win against the Foxes – something they haven’t done in 70 years since the Bees recorded a league double in the 1952/53 Second Division season .

A win is really long overdue.

Scouting report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Leicester in transition after Cooper’s departure

It goes without saying that Leicester City have been on a wild ride over the last eight years.

From winning the Premier League as a 5000/1 shot in 2016, to playing in the Champions League, lifting the FA Cup for the first time, reaching the semi-finals of the Conference League, then being relegated to the Championship and bouncing back at the first time I ask, there have rarely been quiet moments at all.

During Enzo Maresca’s last term, the Foxes had the most incredible season.

They won 13 of their first 14 Championship games, pushed Chelsea all the way into the FA Cup quarter-finals and Jamie Vardy rolled back the years to return to his powerful best to help the cause with 18 league goals.

Leicester also looked set to break Reading’s long-time record of 106 points, but seven defeats in their last 13 put a dent in that dream and they had to settle for 97.

Admittedly, their squad was too good for the second tier – as was Maresca, who was poached by Chelsea as Mauricio Pochettino’s replacement less than a month after the final day of the Championship season.

Steve Cooper’s six-month spell in the job ended when he was handed a three-year deal to replace Maresca at the King Power Stadium.

“His vision for the team, including his ability to develop players and implement a dynamic style of play, is very much in line with our ambitions for the club,” Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said.

“As a leader, he has the ability to build on the strong relationship that has been created between our fans and our team and strengthen a bond that will be vital to us re-establishing the club in the Premier League.”

Many have suggested that the summer transfer window prevented the Welshman from starting. Leicester spent £82.2 million, but mostly on young players with potential.

Leicester fell behind in five of their first six Premier League games, picking up three points along the way, but then won over Bournemouth and Southampton either side of the October international break to see them look up for the first time.

After the game at St Mary’s, where the Foxes came from 2-0 down to beat Saints 3-2, Cooper said: “We’ve gone back-to-back and we’ve got to take everything out of the game today, learn , keep improving, keep striving and we will get better too.”

Unfortunately for him, that was not the case – at least in the short term. Leicester went four without a win after that and after the latest result – a 2-1 loss to Maresca’s Chelsea – Cooper was sacked after five months in the job and just 14 competitive games.

The game plan

With Jordan Blackwell, Leicestershire Live

Jordan Blackwell, Leicester City Correspondent for Leicestershire Liveexplains how the Foxes are likely to settle on Saturday in the wake of manager Steve Cooper’s sacking.

“I think it will be too early to make too many changes so I think it will be the same but there might be a little bit of a return to how they played under Maresca last season,” Blackwell told us earlier this week.

“The feeling was that when they came into the Premier League they couldn’t play that possession-dominant style, but I think the players would very much like to play that way and I think they will give it a go against Brentford.

“They will try to keep more of the ball than they have done in previous games and I think they will not look for long balls as much as they have perhaps done in recent weeks.

“Stephy Mavididi is likely to come into the side and they will get their talented attacking players on the ball as often as possible. Jannik Vestergaard might also come back to the team, as he is their best ball-playing defender.

“I think that will be the focus because if a new manager comes in, it will be with not much time to work with the squad, but the one thing they can do is just try to keep the ball a bit. a little better because that’s been part of their downfall; the reason they’ve conceded so many shots is because they just don’t hold the ball well enough.”

Blackwell added: “When you look at the stats at the weekend, in the first 25 minutes they had one touch on the ball in Chelsea’s half, so they’re just putting themselves under pressure.

“If they can get players in the team who can keep the ball really well, it should at least help them a little bit.”

Latest Premier League starting XI against Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Hermansen; Justin, Faes, Okoli, Kristiansen; Soumaré, flashing; McAteer, Ndidi, El Khannous; Vardy

Team news

Frank reveals the key selection at the pre-match press conference

Brentford manager Thomas Frank revealed a key selection decision ahead of Leicester City’s visit to the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

Igor Thiago made his Premier League debut in last weekend’s goalless draw with Everton, coming on in the second half at Goodison Park, but Frank confirmed the striker will not start on Saturday.

“He looks good,” Frank said.

“He played 70 minutes for the B team on Tuesday – 70 valuable minutes.

“He’s ready to potentially start games, but he won’t start tomorrow.

“We have a very good striker in form in Yoane Wissa. He has seven goals – not many strikers have scored more than him in the Premier League so he is doing really well. He is doing fantastic and I am very happy with him. “

Gustavo Nunes featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Cardiff earlier this month, but the Brazilian is not available for Saturday’s meeting with the Foxes.

Defenders Kristoffer Ajer (foot) and Rico Henry (knee) are also out, while Aaron Hickey (hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (knee) are the west Londoners’ long-term absences.

Captain Christian Nørgaard has avoided a ban after the club successfully appealed his red card against the Toffees.

Match officials

Oliver the man in the middle

Judge: Michael Oliver

Assistants: Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring

Fourth official: Darren Bond

WAS: Stuart Attwell

Michael Oliver was one of six England officials overseeing the matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Oliver refereed three matches in Qatar, including the quarter-final between Croatia and Brazil.

The Northumberland-born referee’s last Brentford assignment was the Bees’ 4-1 defeat at Liverpool in February this year.

Oliver refereed 41 games last season and showed 153 yellow cards and six reds.

Last meeting

Brentford 1 Leicester City 1 (Premier League, 18 March 2023)

Mathias Jensen scored for the fourth time in five home games to earn Brentford a point against Leicester City.

The midfielder’s deflected effort gave the Bees a deserved lead at the end of an entertaining opening 45 minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Harvey Barnes’ neat finish brought the Foxes level seven minutes after the restart and Brendan Rodgers’ side continued to enjoy the best of the second half without testing David Raya on his 150th appearance for Brentford.

Shandon Baptiste was sent off for two late bookings but Brentford saw out the final moments with 10 players.