"I was a football player for 11 years and scored 11 goals. What stats! One goal a season. I'm not a proper man to give advice to strikers.” Those were the words of an animated Pep Guardiola following a 1-1 draw with Chelsea that could’ve easily went City’s way had Erling Haaland converted any of the nine chances he missed in the game.
The Norwegian goal machine jammed his arsenal against Chelsea as he broke the record for the highest xG (expected goals) in a Premier League game this season without scoring. Although he has already scored 16 goals this season, it was expected that the Viking would get on the scoresheet following his brace against Everton after coming off the bench last weekend.
The points lost for City put them in third place behind Arsenal following comfortable wins for Liverpool and The Gunners over the weekend. However, The Citizens have two games in-hand and have the possibility of sitting one point behind log leaders, Liverpool, should they win both their games in-hand.
Man City will welcome Brentford to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night as they aim to reaffirm their title charge in hopes of winning the EPL title for the 4th time in a row. However, Liverpool and Arsenal won’t go down without a fight this term with Liverpool looking to give Jurgen Klopp a befitting send-off following his decision to depart from Merseyside while Arsenal will be hoping to one up their efforts from last season under Mikel Arteta.
Coming into this game, Thomas Frank’s Brentford side suffered a 4-1 defeat to City’s rivals Liverpool while Brentford also lost to Manchester City earlier on in the month of February. However, the last time Brentford made a trip to the Northwest to face City at the Etihad, they walked away with a 2-1 win. So, Thomas Frank will be weary of Pep Guardiola’s men but will not shy away from snatching a win away from home on Tuesday night.