Brentford vs Manchester City live updates: Premier League team ...

Michael Dominski

February 5, 2024 at 12:25 PM EST

In the absence of Jamie Vardy, Neal Maupay has inherited the crown of the Premier League's leading wind-up merchant.

The latest chapter saw him mock James Maddison's darts celebration after opening the scoring against Tottenham in midweek, something he later admitted he "went a bit early with".

Tim Spiers turned back time and look at some of the Frenchman's most devious Premier League moments — you can find it below.

GO FURTHER

Neal Maupay: Royalty among Premier League wind-up merchants

Goalscorers: Udogie, Johnson, Richarlison – Maupay, Toney

It all started so well for Brentford on their trip across London on Wednesday.

When Neal Maupay bundled in a rebound from Toney's initial effort, the travelling fans were on cloud nine. But two goals in the space of a minute flipped the game on its head in the second half when Destiny Udogie and then Brennan Johnson made it 2-1. And bad soon became worse as Richarlison added a third less than 10 minutes later.

There was a fightback started by a great finish from Toney but the visitors couldn't quite steal a point despite their late pressure.

Today's focus on City's striker situation is reminiscent of the attention Ivan Toney's return garnered.

The 27-year-old made his long-awaited return to action just over a fortnight ago and marked it with a goal.

In the absence of Wissa and Mbeumo, having Toney available is a huge boost for Brentford, as described by Jay Harris below.

GO FURTHER

Ivan Toney’s return was inevitably triumphant – just when Brentford needed him

Manchester City are in a very envious position with their squad depth.

Continuous investment in the playing staff at the Etihad Stadium has left Guardiola with a number of dilemmas during his tenure, but it feels like his current one is the hardest to choose.

With Haaland and De Bruyne back to full fitness, what happens to Alvarez?

The Athletic's Sam Lee tried to make sense of it — check out his ideas below.

GO FURTHER

Erling Haaland’s return gives Pep Guardiola a headache. How to fit in Julian Alvarez?

While all that was going on, Brentford fans will have been paying close attention to the teams around them.

Like City, they have two games in hand which could pull them clear of immediate danger, but they only have a three-point buffer to the relegation zone heading into today's game.

Every point is priceless down there at the moment and positive results for Luton and Everton against Newcastle and Tottenham respectively will not have gone unnoticed.

Arsenal's delivered a significant statement of intent with their 3-1 win against Liverpool.

It dragged them right back into the title picture while simultaneously stopping Jurgen Klopp's side pulling further clear at the top.

Whatever had happened at the Emirates Stadium, Manchester City fans would have been paying close attention and Arsenal's win means they can go top of the Premier League by winning their two games in hand.

The first of those comes in a few hours...

If you have missed the action in the Premier League so far this weekend, where have you been?!

You could hardly take your eyes off the games on Saturday and Sunday as it went goal crazy. An eight-goal thriller at St James' Park headlined Saturday before an impressive Arsenal victory took centre stage yesterday.

The 2021-22 Premier League was Brentford's first in the top flight and it was a successful one as they finished 13th.

Rather unsurprisingly, they were beaten twice during that campaign by Manchester City with a 1-0 defeat at home and a 2-0 defeat away.

But they got their payback in emphatic fashion last season, completing an unlikely double over the champions.

So, in Premier League terms, that is two wins each and zero draws — here is the all-time head-to-head record between the teams, which dates back to 1932!

All eyes will be on the Manchester City line-up announcement at 7pm GMT.

Erling Haaland came on from the bench in midweek, but Julian Alvarez scored twice against Burnley so the Norwegian striker may have to wait for his first start since December 6.

Kevin De Bruyne made his first start since August in that match and Manuel Akanji is fit, so Guardiola has a full squad to choose from.

Brentford remain without three players whose nations have progressed to the semi-final of their respective international tournaments.

Yoane Wissa (DR Congo) and Frank Onyeka (Nigeria) could meet in the Africa Cup of Nations final while Saman Ghoddos and Iran will face Qatar in the Asian Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Rico Henry (knee), Bryan Mbeumo (ankle), Kevin Schade (groin) and Aaron Hickey (hamstring) are all sidelined.

The good news is that Thomas Frank will have Sergio Reguilon available for selection after he could not face his parent club, Tottenham, in midweek.

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Capacity: 17,250

One of the newest and most authentic stadiums in the Premier League is where we are pitching up today.

Lots of English football's biggest clubs have tried and failed to overcome Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, so this will be no cakewalk for Manchester City.

Here are your viewing options for today's game:

The match kicks off at 8pm GMT local time.

For those of you in the US, that is 3pm ET and 12pm PT.

Hello and welcome to The Athletic's live coverage of Brentford vs Manchester City.

It is the final game of the Premier League weekend, so let's hope for an exciting conclusion.

The door has been opened for the champions to close the gap on the league leaders, but a stern test awaits Pep Guardiola's side.