I want to get this out of the way, not really because I feel odds will tumble, but some people could come to a similar conclusion ,I am not going to change my mind and it frees up space in the weekend emails.

 

Saturday-Sunday games for Brentford with a long time to bask in the warm glow of a famous 4-1 win at Stamford Bridge (notes on that are reproduced below the "good luck" sign off).

 

Sunday- Thursday-Sunday schedule for United , with their biggest game of the season coming just days before they make the short trip across London to Lionel Road.

 

The Bees are all but safe now, but that should enable them to relax and play their natural game.

 

Brentford are 14th in the EPL, but are 5th -8th for xP (depending on which table you trust) , having posted very similar numbers to the Hammers and the one which places them 5th has United 11 points adrift of the mighty, mighty Bees.

 

I was at the London Stadium for the reverse fixture, Brentford won 2-1, dominated and led early, should have been 2-3 up at half time, United equalised and were on top for much of the second half, but the visitors regrouped and forced a late winner. We went with Brentford "over" 1.5 goals and that is a bet we have done well with long term and the Hammers have conceded twice in 5/9 road games, including two in which they avoided defeat. Brentford are able to play further up the pitch with Eriksen in the team and his presence stops Ivan Toney from dropping too far back and it is amazing how much difference the Dane has made. I was thinking about this a lot yesterday, you just never really see a world class player in what some would call a poor, let's say average team, they are usually in top 4-6 teams, surrounded by players of similar if not quite equal ability, it is almost a one off. It helps that Eriksen doesn't seem to have much of an ego, is willing to help and put in a big shift and share his knowledge and experience on the training pitches too and it is almost a unique experiment if you will. Brentford are an amazing fit for him, as the whole club ethos is about improving players and never signing the finished article (Eriksen being the exception of course) so everyone around him is willing to learn and absorb what he wants to teach and pass on. 

 

I wrote an article three weeks ago about why I felt he would stay at Brentford and despite ever increasing attention and a lot of ridiculous statements like he is too good for the Bees, I don't see what he can gain from moving apart from money ( might be more of a concern for his agent) or European football and that is hardly going to help his World Cup dreams with multiple extra games and he is unlikely to go to a top 4 team,so possibly playing Europa League, which could be a poisoned chalice. Also, he would lose a LOT, everything that was set out in that article. Anyway, it is fun to see how far he and Brentford can go over the final 7 games and would just be incredible if that was extended to a further 38 games in 2022-23.

 

To put those Europa League exertions into black and white, United have played 7 additional games this season and will probably not have been able to discuss Brentford this week, it will have all been about OL, they will kick off on Sunday 64 hours after tonight's game ends and will not be able to have a full training session in the interim. Bees had two days off and four full days on the Jersey Road pitches to prepare solely for United.  Huge advantage for Brentford and does Eriksen want that crammed schedule or something similar in a World Cup year ?

 

 

 

 

 

Good luck !