The Bees bested Newport County on penalties in midweek, while Andoni Iraola‘s side came up trumps in a five-goal classic with Swansea City.
Match preview
For nearly 90 minutes of Newport’s EFL Cup showdown with Brentford on Tuesday, the clash at Rodney Parade was best consigned to the history books, before substitute Mathias Jensen had seemingly done enough to send Thomas Frank‘s team into the third round.
With six minutes of injury time on the clock, though, Kiban Rai nodded home from Adam Lewis‘s cross to draw the League Two side level, but his heroic header only delayed Brentford’s triumph, as goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe stopped two penalties to help his side prevail in the shootout.
Improvements will need to be made for a third-round tie against London rivals Arsenal, but Brentford’s nervy shootout success prolonged their unbeaten streak following a five-point haul from their opening three Premier League games in a typically solid start to proceedings.
However, after failing to cling onto a slim advantage against Tottenham Hotspur, a similar story befell the Bees during last weekend’s showdown with Crystal Palace, as they drew first blood through a fine Kevin Schade strike before Joachim Andersen‘s equaliser from a tight angle.
Sitting pretty in ninth place in the Premier League table with 35 games left to play, Brentford now set out to extend their unbeaten Premier League run to an eye-catching seven matches, and not since October have they been kept at bay at home – a run of 15 matches with at least one goal at the Gtech.
While Brentford were almost left to rue a late goal at Rodney Parade, Bournemouth benefitted from an injury-time strike during their meeting with Swansea, who needed just nine minutes to draw first blood through Matt Grimes‘s penalty before David Brooks levelled with his first goal since recovering from cancer.
Hamed Traore and Jamie Paterson then traded second-half efforts as penalties loomed, but not long after the fourth official’s board had gone up, Ryan Christie netted the game’s fifth and final goal to set up a third-round affair with another Championship foe in Stoke City.
Christie’s last-gasp effort saw recently-appointed head coach Andoni Iraola claim his first victory in the Cherries hotseat at the fourth attempt, having overseen a discouraging start to the Premier League season with only one point taken from their first three outings.
During torrid conditions in last weekend’s meeting with Tottenham Hotspur, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski rained on the Bournemouth parade with goals either side of the break to inflict a 2-0 loss on Iraola’s side, leaving them 16th in the standings at this early stage.
A record of six losses and a draw from their last seven Premier League matches hardly serves as a confidence-booster ahead of a trip down south – and nor does conceding at least twice in each of their last three matches – but the bad omens do not stop there for Bournemouth, who have beaten Brentford just once in the sides’ last seven encounters.
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Balcombe’s 12-yard heroics in the EFL Cup came amid Thomas Strakosha‘s absence due to a knock, and a similar problem has also kept Danish attacker Mikkel Damsgaard out of Brentford’s last two matches.
Both men are facing races against time to prove their fitness for the weekend, while Josh Dasilva (thigh) and Shandon Baptiste (shoulder) are out for the long-term, while Ivan Toney still had another four-and-a-half months of his suspension to serve.
Despite his crucial contributions against Newport, Balcombe will inevitably make way for Mark Flekken in goal, while the well-rested Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa will return to form their fearsome partnership in the attacking third.
Meanwhile, none of Bournemouth’s seven known absentees should be back in action before the international break, as new arrivals Tyler Adams and Alex Scott continue to wait for their debuts due to knee and thigh problems respectively.
Ryan Fredericks (calf), Emiliano Marcondes (ankle), Dango Ouattara (ankle), Marcus Tavernier and Adam Smith (both unspecified) complete the visitors’ injury list, but a couple of goalscorers from midweek have certainly made a case to come in from the start in the Premier League.
Indeed, both Brooks and Traore – the former of whom also brought up 100 appearances for the club against Swansea – should come into Iraola’s thinking, but established names such as Neto, Lewis Cook, Milos Kerkez and Dominic Solanke will all return.
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Hickey, Collins, Pinnock, Henry; Norgaard, Janelt, Jensen; Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Neto; Aarons, Zabarnyi, Kelly, Kerkez; Cook, Billing; Brooks, Christie, Semenyo; Solanke
We say: Brentford 3-1 Bournemouth
A distinct failure to keep the back door closed ought to prove costly for Bournemouth at a ground where Brentford need no lessons in attacking supremacy, as Iraola’s men are quickly brought crashing back down to earth.
The forward-thinking Cherries might experience a sliver of joy on the attacking front themselves, but the Bees’ potent firepower should be too hot for the Cherries to handle.
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