(Football news) Brentford take on Tottenham in the first Premier League match of the week at the Gtech Community Stadium with both teams hoping to build on wins from their last matches. Brentford defeated champions Manchester City 2-1 on November 12th while Tottenham overcame Leeds United 4-3 before the league was halted to accommodate the World Cup. Few would have predicted such a result against the reigning champions but Thomas Frank’s side have managed to do the impossible, securing all three points against City courtesy of a 98th-minute winner from Ivan Toney.
The result meant that Brentford progressed to 10th place in the Premier League table with 19 points from 15 games (four wins, seven draws and four defeats). Only Arsenal (1), Newcastle (1) and Manchester City (2) have lost fewer games in the season so far and the Bees are expected to survive in the Premier League once again. Thomas Frank recently signed a new five year contract with the club which will see him at Brentford until June 2027 and the club seem to be heading in the right direction.
Brentford have not defeated Tottenham since 1948 but the two teams have only met twice in the Premier League with both teams settling for a point each in their last fixture at the Brentford Community Stadium in April. As for Spurs, they were involved in a seven goal thriller against Leeds and their 4-3 victory meant they reached fourth place in the Premier League with 29 points from 15 games, one point behind Newcastle in third place. Antonio Conte will hope to get maximum points against Brentford, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace before his side welcome Arsenal on January 15th.
In team news, Thomas Frank has revealed that Pontus Jansson is available for selection after recovering from a hamstring issue but Aaron Hickey, Thomas Strakosha and Kristoffer Ajer are still unavailable. Brentford could feature the same team that defeated Manchester City with Toney featuring in the lineup despite a number of betting charges against him by the Football Association.
As for Tottenham, Fraser Forster will feature in goal instead of Hugo Lloris who played in the World Cup final. Ivan Perisic has returned to training and could start but Cristian Romero will not feature. The likes of Richarlison and Bentancur are definitely out while Ryan Sessegnon remains a doubt. However, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min should feature in the final third. Both teams will fancy their chances of winning this match but both are also difficult to beat, which means a low scoring draw seems like a likely outcome.
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