Brentford will look to carry the momentum gained from a 5-0 league win over Southampton into the FA Cup, where they face a Plymouth side fresh from parting ways from coach Wayne Rooney.
Since they removed the Manchester United legend from the position of head coach, caretaker manager Kevin Nancekivell has overseen an unbeaten start, drawing twice against Bristol City and Stoke.
Meanwhile, Brentford’s win over Southampton was their first win in five, so the demolition of the south coast side has certainly upped the mood around west London. Playing a side low on confidence themselves, they should make relatively light work of this cup tie.
As the game approaches, here is everything you need to know about both sides ahead of kick-off.
Brentford Predicted Lineup (4-3-3): Mark Flekken (GK); Keane Lewis-Potter, Sepp van den Berg, Nathan Collins, Mads Roerslev; Vitaly Janelt, Christian Norgaard, Mathias Jensen; Kevin Schade, Yoane Wissa, Bryan Mbeumo.
The win at Southampton was a much needed morale boost, but Brentford have other problems, most significantly in the shape of an injury crisis.
They are currently missing nine players through injury, and almost all of them play a significant part in the first team. Fabio Carvaho, Aaron Hickey and Ben Mee are all out with muscle injuries, while Kristoffer Ajer, Rico Henry and Ethan Pinnock are all out until February with their respective knocks.
Fortunately, Brentford are still able to field a strong team with the likes of Mikkel Damsgaard, Lewis-Potter, and Bryan Mbeumo, who is currently having the best season of his career. Given their strength in depth, the Bees should be able to dispatch Plymouth with relative ease.
Plymouth Argyle Predicted Lineup (3-4-2-1): Conor Hazard (GK); Brendan Galloway, Julio Pleguezuelo, Kornel Szucs; Bali Mbumba, Darko Gyabi, Adam Randell, Matthew Sorinola; Rami El Hajj, Morgan Whittaker; Michael Obafemi.
While they have gone two games without defeat for the first time since Early November, Plymouth are still odds on favourites for relegation from the Championship.
However, the FA Cup comes as a welcome distraction from their league woes, and in playing an injury hit Brentford, they could’ve been handed much tougher draws. However, they still go into it as underdogs, and it is hard to see Brentford losing.
However, under their caretaker boss, they seem to have had a bounce in confidence, and if they can grab the first goal, then an upset could suddenly be on the cards.
Recent Meetings:
Plymouth’s chances deteriorate considerably when you consider that they haven’t scored in any of their last five away games, and none of those have come against Premier League opposition.
Given that, they won’t score against the Bees, allowing the London side to go big with ease. We are backing a Brentford win and over 3.5 goals.
Brentford 4-0 Plymouth Argyle
Brentford will coast to a comfortable margin by half time, allowing Thomas Frank to give some minutes to some of the fringe players and some new academy blood.
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