Brentford

Brentford boss Keith Andrews has been speaking to the media before Monday's Premier League game against West Ham at London Stadium (kick-off 20:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Andrews confirmed Aaron Hickey is "back on the grass" after his knock on international duty, while Reiss Nelson and Gustavo Nunes both featured for the under-21s and are available for selection.

• The Brentford boss also spoke about Antoni Milambo after the news he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury: "He's obviously very down. It's devastating for him, first and foremost. He's at a new club, settling into a new country as a very young player that we have high, high hopes for. Suffering an injury of that level is obviously very disappointing, but the one thing he knows is that he will get a lot of support here and time to heal."

• He added: "To go through that process is the worst part of being a footballer - not being able to do what you love, mates going out and training and you can't. Antoni's got a long road back to getting back on the pitch, but he will get so much support from everyone here at Brentford."

• On defender Michael Kayode being an unsung hero in the team: "I like a lot about him. His desire to be as good as he can be is up there with best I have come across. He is a joy to be around in personality. Factor in coming from a different country and he has settled really well last season. This season he has kicked on. He is a defender who likes to defend."

• He confirmed Michael Antonio had been training at the club for a week to 10 days but "picked up a little knock and has been in and out".

• On his assessment of their attack so far this season: "A little bit of adapting. We have tweaked the system and formation. Some attacking players have had to be unselfish, really putting the team before themselves. You have seen glimpses, in connections and relations. We have really talented players at the top end of the pitch. The longer they are together, building those relationships, the better they will be. We have seen how devastating they can be in glimpses."

• On where the side can improve still: "Every facet of the game we can improve on. How connected we are as a team without the ball, how we press, communication, a lot of relationships - I speak about that a lot. It is a new team. It just takes a bit of time. Whatever facet it is, I know we can, and will, improve. But because of the nature of the business we want it to be sooner rather than later."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

Looking at Premier League teams' attacks specifically in the graphic below, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have taken by far the most shots, averaging about 15 per game.

But the reason why Manchester City and Crystal Palace have the best attacks overall is because they are creating much better chances, averaging about 0.14 xG per shot.

What that means is that historically Premier League sides have converted the chances City and Palace are creating at a rate of 14%, compared to 10% of the shots that United, Arsenal and Liverpool are.

Brentford are a strange side because while they are averaging just eight shots per game, the quality of those chances has been so high that their attack still ranks mid-table overall.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League table is starting to take shape and while results are obviously what matter most, they don't tell the whole story in terms of how teams have been playing so far.

Expected goals (xG) tells us how much teams have been dominating games by creating lots of good chances up front and restricting opponents to few, bad ones at the back.

Penalties are excluded because they distort a team's numbers on how threatening or vulnerable they are in general, especially at this early stage.

Below is a graphic showing how good teams have been in attack and defence, with the most dominant teams in the top-right corner and the least impressive in the bottom-left corner.

Arsenal and Manchester City have been the most dominant sides, with the Gunners having the best defence and fourth-best attack and City the joint-best attack and fourth-best defence.

High-flying Crystal Palace are the only side to rival City's attacking threat, while Newcastle are living up to their name by being almost as impregnable at the back as Arsenal.

Both Manchester United and Chelsea have one of the top five attacks in the league but worryingly also rank in the bottom five defensively.

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Liverpool's back-to-back defeats following five straight wins gives a more accurate picture of how they have been playing, while Tottenham have needed to be very efficient to make up for their lack of dominance in games.

Aston Villa's early-season struggles are no longer to do with finishing - they have now scored six non-penalty goals from an xG of 6.0 - but simply because they have not been playing well.

While promoted sides Leeds and Sunderland have adapted quite well to the top-flight, Burnley have struggled to make the jump so far with both the worst attack and the worst defence.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford midfielder Antoni Milambo has sustained a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury while on international duty with Netherlands Under-21s.

The club has said the 20-year-old, who was signed from Eredivisie club Feyenoord this summer, will have surgery and "be in rehabilitation for the remainder of the season".

Milambo was slowly being integrated into Keith Andrews' first team, having made three appearances for the Bees, including starts in Carabao Cup wins over Bournemouth and Aston Villa.

The Dutchman made 42 appearances for Feyenoord last season, scoring seven goals and contributing eight assists.

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

Image source, Getty Images

Jordan Henderson has a huge admirer in Thomas Tuchel. He was an instant inclusion for his first squad in March, winning a recall after being absent from England duty since November 2023.

It was a pick that raised eyebrows but Tuchel was unmoved, continuing to keep faith with Brentford's veteran midfielder, even to the exclusion of Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton, saying: "He embodies everything we are trying to build."

No one could ever question the desire and attitude of one of the game's most consummate professionals, but Henderson will be 36 during next summer's World Cup, which will be played in gruelling conditions in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Tuchel has praised Henderson's influence around camp, and his impact can already be seen at Brentford, but he will need to be seen as someone who will figure on the pitch as well. There is no room for non-playing figureheads at a major tournament.

Plenty question Tuchel's wisdom on this decision. It remains to be seen how much longer he will include Henderson, so the former Liverpool captain must produce high-class performances with Brentford consistently to stop eyebrows being raised further.

Read the full list of players with a point to prove here

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

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International breaks often drag on when your club is not playing - and this one is even longer for Brentford fans given that we are the last game of the next Premier League weekend.

The match at West Ham on Monday night is already shaping up to be a potential six-pointer.

Not only will it be Nuno Espirito Santo's first home match in charge of the Hammers, but it is very likely we will have joined them in the bottom three by kick-off - given that we are playing after everyone else.

That will be a big psychological thing for Keith Andrews to overcome, as it will be our first time in the relegation zone in our time in the Premier League.

It means less because of the timing of our fixture, but if we lose to West Ham it could start to become an issue, with Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Newcastle to follow before the next round of internationals.

Up until now, Andrews' squad has been largely injury-free - a welcome change from previous seasons.

However, this could be about to change.

Aaron Hickey, who made his first Premier League start in 700 days against Manchester United at the end of September, was forced off injured during Scotland's win over Greece last week and missed Sunday's win over Belarus as a result.

And Anthony Milambo was stretchered off during Netherlands Under-21s' match with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A new injury crisis is the last thing we need, which is why it was good to find Yehor Yarmoliuk in the Ukraine squad for Monday's match with Azerbaijan after he limped off against Manchester City.

It was also pleasing to see Mikkel Damsgaard on target for Denmark against Greece - we need him to have his goalscoring boots on for us over the next month.

Find more from Ian Westbrook at Beesotted podcast, external

In a special episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, Steve Crossman sits down with Brentford's Fabio Carvalho and club psychologist Michael Caulfield to discuss how the club's culture of talking openly has helped their players.

Caulfield installed a bench at the training ground, dubbed Michael's bench, where players can discuss what is on their mind and share.

It has been such a success that the club have installed three more benches at the training ground for their academy teams and are now putting up more benches around the local community, to encourage people to talk to help with their mental health.

In an honest interview, Carvalho discusses the difficulties he faced as a young man moving from Portugal, how faith and removing himself from social media has helped him and how he thinks modern footballers could benefit from having deeper conversations and sharing their struggles.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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Brentford defender Aaron Hickey is an injury doubt for Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Belarus on Sunday after coming off in the side's 3-1 win over Greece on Thursday.

The 23-year-old was substituted in the 58th minute at Hampden Park with what boss Steve Clarke described as a "small injury".

"He's just tweaked his knee," Clarke added.

"Aaron was actually a doubt to start the game after picking up a small knock to his knee and I think he's just aggravated it.

"I don't know for sure yet, but that was the reason I called Max [Johnston] into the squad as cover."

Bees fans will be hoping the issue is not too serious, with Hickey having only recently returned to full fitness this season after a two-year struggle with a recurring hamstring injury.

Image source, Brentford FC

Fabio Carvalho has lent his support to Brentford's mental health bench campaign, an initiative started by the club's sports psychologist Michael Caulfield when he bought an outdoor bench for the club's new training ground.

Caulfield soon realised the bench was encouraging players to engage with their mental health, so he started to sit on the bench a few days a week during training and gave the players the option to join him.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live for a Football Daily podcast special, attacking midfielder Carvalho said football can be "a bit cutthroat" so "being able to talk about what you're going through on and off the pitch is a blessing".

After success within the training ground, Brentford have recently installed another mental health bench in Robin Grove Park and plan to put several more in the local community moving forward.

The benches will have mental health charity phone numbers and a QR code that links to mental health support services on them.

"I can speak to Michael [Caulfield] about anything and everything," Carvalho said. "What makes it most special is that it doesn't have to be about football. You can speak about anything without being judged.

"I don't feel like men, in general, express their feelings enough. It's good to be able to talk and share that burden, plus being able to speak to someone who doesn't wear a kit or have a badge with initials on goes a long way.

"As footballers, I don't think we have enough meaningful and deep conversations. We just say: 'How are you? I'm good.' But are we actually good?"

The full episode of this special Football Daily podcast will be out on Monday

Brentford are not expected to offer Jamaica international Michail Antonio a contract, despite the 35-year-old former West Ham forward training with the Bees. (Mail, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

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Michail Antonio has started training with Brentford.

The 35-year-old left West Ham in August following the expiry of his contract - eight months after he was seriously injured in a car crash.

He made 323 appearances in a 10-year period at the club, scoring 83 goals, and started the 2023 Conference League final when West Ham ended their 43-year wait for a major trophy.

Antonio training with Brentford does not necessarily the Bees are planning to offer him a contract, but he lives locally and is using the opportunity to stay match fit.

West Ham's record Premier League goalscorer holds the belief that he can return to playing and scoring regularly after the injuries sustained in December 2024.

Nizaar Kinsella
Football reporter

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Manchester United are appointing Brentford chief operating officer Ameesh Manek as director of football operations at Old Trafford.

Staff at United and Brentford were informed of the news earlier on Wednesday.

Manek will effectively run United's Carrington training ground - the base for the daily football operation - with responsibility for travel, security, training facilities and staff management and infrastructure.

He is the latest leadership appointment by United CEO Omar Berrada.

Director of football Jason Wilcox, who Manek will report into, is in charge of team performance, while chief business officer Marc Armstrong is responsible for off-the-pitch growth.

Manek joined the Bees in 2022, originally as business operations director, before being promoted to chief operating officer in July 2024.

He previously spent five years at Arsenal, where he became head of first-team football operations.

At Brentford, Manek's role was generally limited to administration, but his United job is expected to have a larger focus on football matters for both the men's and women's teams.

United have made a number of key executive appointments in recent months, including Stephen Torpey, who was also at Brentford, to be academy director.

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Not surprisingly, Brentford came off second best against Manchester City on Sunday.

We don't have a terrible record against City and have never been stuffed by them - as some teams are regularly - but we never looked like pulling off another shock win in this game.

Erling Haaland has often found it hard to score against the Bees, but given his form this season it was no surprise that he found the net - from his only real chance of the game. It was his first-ever goal at the Gtech.

City totally dominated the first half, so much so that we failed to touch the ball in their penalty area - the first time that ignominious stat has happened in our 159 Premier League games.

We were much better in the second half, but apart from one decent chance for Igor Thiago, rarely gave Gianlugi Donnarumma much to do.

It was disappointing that, as at Fulham two weeks ago, Keith Andrews did not try to 'go for it' in the closing stages with more positive substitutions.

I totally understand why he started with five at the back, but with 20 minutes to go and us only a goal down it was worth taking a chance and going 4-3-3.

He did make that change in the 92nd minute, but I felt sorry for incoming substitute Fabio Carvalho, as it barely seemed worth it at that stage and I don't think he even touched the ball.

At least it's good that we didn't take a hit to our goal difference and that almost everyone seemed to come through the game unscathed.

The only downside was an injury to Yehor Yarmoliuk, who was forced off in the second half. Hopefully it won't be anything which keeps him out of Ukraine's World Cup qualifiers or any of our forthcoming matches.

Find more from Ian Westbrook at Beesotted podcast, external

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Brentford and Manchester City.

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Anthony: As soon as I saw the line-up was a defensive back five, I knew it was the wrong approach to a side like Man City. Surely the age-old saying that attack is the best form of defence is the best way, just as Thomas Frank did against Man City more than once.

Mark: Why play five at the back? It was going to be a tough game whatever the line-up so should have gone for broke and started with the same line-up as last week. Despite playing better in the second half, we still lack quality at the front. We still need a quality striker.

Saan: Really proud of this Brentford team. We may have been under the hammer slightly in the first half but we came back so strongly, and probably deserved more than we got. Jordan Henderson just keeps on proving his worth.

Nicholas: What a disappointing display from the Bees. Five at the back, negative football and relying on long throws as your only weapon. It was like watching Stoke 15 years ago! Disappointed that Keith Andrews set up to contain rather than have a go.

Man City fans

Steve: A brilliant City away performance, against a team who have been strong at home this season. Three points…

Alan: We should have put the game to bed in the first half. Sloppy and lacklustre finishing must improve if we are to win anything this year. Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden were the worst culprits. Both need to concentrate on hitting the ball accurately and with sufficient energy to beat good keepers. either of them managed anything like what is required. Generally a poor performance in the second half.

Dave: Easing our way to another title. Cranking up very nicely with some excellent players returning from injury too.

Harry: Against a low block it's never easy. add to that a team who love long throws and were playing at home, you have a challenging game. We dominated the first half. The second half was more scruffy but we managed it when we couldn't last season.

Pundits Joe Hart and Danny Murphy join host Kelly Cates to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's five Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Aston Villa 2-1 Burnley

• Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace

• Newcastle 2-0 Nottingham Forest

• Wolves 1-1 Brighton

• Brentford 0-1 Man City

Brentford boss Keith Andrews, speaking to BBC Match of the Day after defeat to Man City: "If you look at the 90 minutes one team took their very good chance, we didn't take ours. I feel we restricted them to very few clear cut chances.

"By the nature of the way they play they will try to pull you out of position. We dealt with that pretty well. In the second half we managed to create a bit more chaos and unnerve them a bit."

On the use of long throw-ins: "There's a lot been made of that in recent times, it has been here for years. It is a prevalent part of our game. It causes carnage in the opposition box and carnage is what I like."

Did you know?

• Brentford failed to score for the first time in their last 14 Premier League games since drawing 0-0 with Chelsea in April, ending what was their longest ever scoring streak in the competition.

Jess Anderson
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Victory against Manchester United last time out was a welcome result for Brentford, who had earned just four points from their first five games.

Despite a somewhat disappointing start to the campaign, Brentford had not yet lost at home this season.

Under Thomas Frank, Brentford were often a problem team for Pep Guardiola and were the only side to do the double over City in the Treble-winning campaign two years ago.

New Bees boss Keith Andrews, in his first managerial role, opted for a back five on Sunday with Kristoffer Ajer coming in for Dango Ouattara - and it left them starved of opportunities in the first 45 minutes.

For the first time in their 159 Premier League games, Brentford failed to record a single touch in their opponent's penalty area in the first half.

The game opened up more after the break, with Michael Kayode heading over the bar while Brentford limited City to just one shot in a flat but scrappy second half.

The hosts' best chance came when Igor Thiago, who has scored five goals this season, found himself one on one with Gianluigi Donnarumma but the Italian keeper saved well.

Defeat leaves Brentford 16th in the table with two wins from seven matches.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Brentford's performance

What did you make of City's display?

Come back on Monday for a selection of your replies

Just the one change for Brentford from their win over Manchester United.

Kristoffer Ajer comes in for Dango Ouattara.

Igor Thiago starts with the aim of continuing his brilliant goalscoring run.

Brentford XI: Kelleher, Hickey, Van Den Berg, Henderson, Schade, Thiago, Yarmoliuk, Ajer, Collins, Damsgaard, Kayode

Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Jensen, Carvalho, Onyeka, Ouattara, Lewis-Potter, Janelt

Pep Guardiola makes two changes to the side that beat Burnley last time out.

Oscar Bobb and Rodri come in for Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez, who both drop to the bench.

Midfielder Rodri sat the Burnley match out last week with a knee problem but is fit to start today.

Man City XI: Donnarumma, Dias, Reijnders, Haaland, Rodri, Gvardiol, Savinho, Nunes, O'Reilly, Foden, Bobb

Subs: Trafford, Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Cherki, Doku, Gonzalez, Silva, Lewis

There are five games in the Premier League on Sunday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Everton v Crystal Palace - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2

• Newcastle v Nottingham Forest - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Wolves v Brighton - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 3

• Aston Villa v Burnley - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (after Singapore Grand Prix)

• Brentford v Man City (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 14:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

You can also listen to today's 5 Live Premier League commentaries on most smart speakers. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Newcastle v Nottingham Forest" or "ask BBC Sounds to play Wolves v Brighton", for instance.

Find out more about how to listen to Premier League football on BBC Sounds