Brentford away a challenging start to the new year

Morning all, and happy new year.

We begin 2025 with a tricky away trip to Brentford. Despite a recent 2-0 defeat to high-flying Nottingham Forest, they have the joint best home record in the Premier League, garnering 22 points from their games so far – level with Liverpool (and just 1 point more than us).

A feature of their performances at home this season has been fast starts and early goals, something we need to be aware of, and it might inform our starting XI to an extent. When he picks his team today...