Three winners and three losers as Man City beat Brentford 1-0
Manchester City put on a professional showing at the GTech Community Stadium to overcome Brentford and rise to third in the Premier League.
Man City drew with Monaco in midweek due to a late Eric Dier penalty, but Pep Guardiola’s side started well in West London.
Brentford hosted Man City in the Premier League a week after beating their city rivals, Manchester United, 3-1.
Rodri went off injured in the first half of the game, with concerns arising once again after the Spaniard’s injury record worsened.
Winners
Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland continued his red-hot start to the season, scoring in all but one Premier League game so far in the 2025-26 campaign.
Haaland has scored 11 goals in eight games in all competitions, added an assist as well, with Man City looking like they’re slowly getting back to their imperious best.
Against Brentford, the Norwegian bullied Sepp van den Berg to get an emphatic shot off, and it turbocharged the Cityzens to victory.
Tijjani Reijnders
Before Haaland’s strong finish kicked off the scoring for City, Tijjani Reijnders could have had a skilful goal himself.
The summer purchase from Milan is looking like a true gem for Guardiola’s side, with the Dutch midfielder linking defence to attack tremendously well.
| Tijjani Reijnders vs Brentford | |
| Pass accuracy | 94% |
| Chances created | 1 |
| Big chances | 1 |
| Successfull dribbles | 3/3 |
| Successful dribbles | 2/2 |
The Dutchman had a second chance to get on the scoresheet midway through the first half when he saw his backpost effort well saved by Caoimhín Kelleher.
Pep Guardiola
Man City’s win sent them third in the Premier League table behind only leaders Arsenal and champions Liverpool.
They’re a long way from their peak, but Guardiola will be happy with the early signs from his Man City side.
They may not be omnipotent yet, but if this City side can build a run of steam out of the international break, they look like they could be hard to stop.
Losers
Igor Thiago
The way Brentford set up was certainly more focused on not losing as opposed to gunning for a second home victory in two weeks.
Igor Thiago’s performance was impacted by that in large parts, but the Brazilian number nine couldn’t say he wasn’t given a chance to score.
For the second week running, Thiago had the freedom of West London in behind a Manchester defence, but on this occasion, he couldn’t be clinical with his finish, firing straight at Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Keith Andrews
Keith Andrews perhaps had grand plans of a counter-attacking masterstroke two weeks on the trot, but it didn’t pan out for the Irishman.
Andrews’ side looked passive out of possession, and too often it was easy for Man City to control the ball and dictate the tempo of the game.
The inexperienced head coach will have a lot of learning curves in his early days on the touchline, and this match was certainly one of them.
Oscar Bobb
On a controlling and overly dominant day for Man City, Oscar Bobb let himself down with a substandard showing.
Bobb was ineffective on the right wing for Man City, and the omission of Jeremy Doku was felt out wide for Guardiola’s side.
The young Norwegian was bullied by Brentford’s defenders and often looked like a boy against men out on the pitch.