Big game this. Gonna be a real early-season test of our promotion candidacy.
Brentford are going to be really up for it, particularly after a poor result against Stoke on Saturday, they'll be wanting to bounce back. We really need to up our performance levels. While it's still very early days, and we have done well overall and put in a couple of good performances, I don't feel like we're near the standards we need to be hitting if we want to challenge at the top of the table. Today would be an ideal time to show that actually we can hit those levels, but I don't know how optimistic I am.
I'd go for:
Krul
Aarons Hanley Gibson Xavi
Skipp Rupp
Buendia Cantwell Placheta
Pukki
Subs: McGovern, Tettey, Sorenson, McLean, Vrancic, Stiepermann, Hugill
That's assuming Todd is fit, as obviously there's some doubt about that. Would love to get Mario in, but I don't think Rupp deserves to be dropped, and I'm not sure that Mario's mobile enough to play in the number 10 spot, although I wouldn't be against Farke trying it. I'd actually be tempted to bring Tettey in for Skipp, as while I like Skipp and he has done well overall, Tettey is still probably the better defensive option. I'd like to see Placheta come in so that we actually have a natural wide option. Last few games we've often tried to force our way through the middle, and it makes things very congested. Hugill hasn't really done much last couple of games, so think I'd like to see Pukki moved back up front and have 3 attack-minded midfielders in behind him.
Gonna be a really interesting game. A point wouldn't be a bad result at all, but a win would be a real statement. Unfortunately though I have to say I think we'll lose this one, 2-0 Brentford. Would love nothing more than to be proven wrong though!