Brentford vs Tottenham prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-08-12 13:00.
Now seen as an established Premier League (PL) side, Brentford shone in 2022/23 en route to a ninth-placed finish, four positions and 13 points better off than their first season back in the top-flight. Going one better this time around could be a difficult task with the spine of their team from the past two years largely missing, as David Raya, Pontus Jansson and Ivan Toney will all be missing from the teamsheet for their season opener against Tottenham.
A winless pre-season has hardly helped lift spirits (D3, L2), form that won’t inspire confidence that the Bees can improve on their dismal opening day record in recent years, winning just two of their last 11 matches to kick off the season. They remain unbeaten in their first PL game of a campaign though (W1, D1), something they’ll be looking to maintain against a Spurs side they haven’t tasted defeat against in each of the last three H2Hs (W1, D2).
The gap between these sides at the end of last season was just a single point – an astonishing statistic given that the last time Tottenham lifted silverware back in 2008, Brentford finished 14th in League Two! A chastening 22/23 campaign was the fourth in succession that Spurs have ended the season with a different manager than they started with, missing out on European football altogether thanks to their joint-lowest (8th) finish since 2007/08.
With a deal to sell Harry Kane to Bayern Munich edging nearer to completion, new boss Ange Postecoglou defiantly insists his side won’t be distracted by speculation and that he has “the foundation of a really good squad”. Top of his Spurs agenda may well be improving the defensive performance of his side, as the 63 goals they conceded in the PL last term was the most among sides who finished in the top 14.
Players to watch: In the absence of Toney, who remains banned until early January, the Bees’ goalscoring burden could fall on Bryan Mbeumo this term, something that didn’t bother them in the most recent H2H as he had a hand in all of his side’s goals in a 3-1 win (G2, A1). New Spurs playmaker James Maddison loves facing Brentford, directly contributing to seven goals in eight H2Hs (G4, A3), only one of which saw him finish on the losing side (W5, D2).
Hot stat: In the PL last season, Tottenham conceded 38 goals away from home – an average of two per game.