Brentford’s early-season formula is working but can Sunderland stop the Bees?

The Bees sit fifth in the fledgling table with four points following the defeat of Spurs and Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Elland Road. Chuck Carabao Cup progression into the mix (a trip to League One Reading awaits after the tonking administered to Birmingham City), and the early phases of the campaign have been about as positive as one could have hoped for.

More so given the activity in the transfer window. None of the core squad departed, Jordan Henderson to Chelsea aside, whilst left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf was added to the setup after joining from West Ham.

The left-back costing £40m including add-ons and now giving the nicest of selection headaches, given the form of Keane Lewis-Potter (who made our top five in both league games to date) and the availability of Rico Henry.  

First world problems for Keith, but I just can’t see how KLP can make way. He’s been magnificent so far this campaign and with Kevin Schade upfield from him in equally imperious form, I suspect Diouf is going to have to bide his team for an introduction.

Keith is yet to have his turn in front of the press, with that due on Friday. Expect to hear the usual with the following required for a ‘full house’: character, personality, really pleased, very happy with the squad, working hard, respect for Regis Le Bris and Sunderland’s fantastic achievement in reaching Europe.

You certainly won’t get any actual team news and, as ever, why on earth would he give his team selection away?

For what it’s worth, the only change I can see coming from the team that drew with Leeds United will be the return of Dango Ouattara for Jaidon Anthony. His arrival from the bench provided a massive breath of fresh air at a time The Bees were under the cosh.

The one-way traffic of the first half yielding nothing more than the slenderest of leads following Kevin Schade’s masterpiece, and being followed by Leeds having their turn to apply some pressure.

Instead, it was another lesson in the eternal struggle between possession stats and actual goals.  Brentford brilliant in the opening period as attack followed attack.

The game very much taken to the opposition, and their normally vocal fanbase silenced. The second half finally seeing Leeds get a grip on the game but despite The Bees defending solidly for the vast majority of the second half, the turning of the screw saw things end all square.

As such, I’m predicting a starting line-up of: Caoimhín Kelleher; Michael Kayode, Kris Ajer, Nathan Collins, Keane Lewis-Potter; Vitaly Janelt, Mamadou Sangaré, Mikkel Damsgaard; Dango Ouattara, Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade.

Vitaly Janelt and Mamadou Sangaré have had a standout start to the season. A dream pairing in the midfield, and their interplay almost psychic at times, such is the speed and reading of the passes between the pair.

They’re both undroppable at the moment, and with Matias Jensen missing the game at Elland Road with injury, I’m sure Mikkel Damsgaard will retain his place.

As for the visitors, they’ve only played twice this campaign after receiving a second-round bye in the cup. They defied all the pundits last time out, with the predictions of relegation turning into begrudging recognition after finishing 7th in the table.

The reward for all that was a minimum of eight Europa League games, including the trips to Anderlecht and Lech Poznań.

Good luck to them and well done! What a stonking achievement. The tournament perhaps coming too early to overly impact team selection for Saturday, so Le Bris seems likely to name a team very much akin to that which beat  Fulham 1-0 last weekend.

They’re likely to start with a defensive-looking line-up of: Robin Roefs, Thomas Meunier, Nordi Mukiele, Daniel Ballard, Reinildo Mandava, Granit Xhaka, Noah Sadiki, Trai Hume, Enzo Le Fée, Nilson Angulo, Brian Brobbey.

The Black Cats’ manager was tight-lipped as to whether new signings Malick Fofana and Juan Riquelme Angulo would be included, with the only thing given away in his Thursday  conference being an update on Habib Diarra.

The player who came on from the bench on Saturday before achieving the ignominious honour of ‘sub-subbed ’ will be absent. A hamstring injury causing him to sit out the next 6-8 weeks.

This is ‘good’ news, of vague sorts, for Enzo Le Fée, with the Frenchman back in pole position for any penalty kicks that may be awarded. Potentially good news for Brentford, too, with his ‘Worst. Panenka. Ever’ at the Gtech last season still the stuff of comedy gold.

Let’s not jinx anything though. For The Bees, Igor Thiago has, unusually, missed from 12 yards this season, hitting the post against Spurs, whilst Kevin Schade managed similar at The Stadium of Light last season when Roefs saved from the spot. Besides, we all know past form counts for naff all.  

If a penalty kick is to be awarded to either side, then we’ll be looking to the officials. Your team for this one, hoping to keep up the mostly good form we’ve seen so far this campaign (albeit Kevin Schade may beg to differ), is:

Referee: Tom Bramall.

Assistants: Gary Beswick, Craig Taylor.

Fourth official: Lewis Smith.

VAR: Tim Wood. Assistant VAR: Blake Antrobus.

The game is a Saturday 3pm kick-off (remember those?) with one supporter group leading the charge on flag waving once more. They’ve extended their West Stand display to now reach into the North Stand – no word on how far round this is coming – giving firm instructions on how to participate:

ALL FANS TO TAKE YOUR SEATS AT 2.30PM TO GET BEHIND THE TEAM DURING IN THE WARM-UPS AGAIN.

Adding: ALL FANS TO WEAR RED AND WHITE.

You’ve been told. To be fair, it looked well impressive prior to the kick-off, and whilst a sea of red and white may be as inspiring to Sunderland as it is to us, who doesn’t love a wall of colour?

Get there early. Crank up the atmosphere and bring it on. There’s a table to climb even higher up…