Brentford

Alex Rice
BBC Sport journalist

Brentford host Aston Villa this weekend with both sides seeking a first win of the new campaign.

If you wanted to see goals last season, Brentford's Gtech Stadium was the place to be - 75 Premier League goals were scored there (3.9 per game), the most of any venue.

Brentford scored 40 of them, thanks largely to the outstanding form of top scorer Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, who is Brentford's all-time leading scorer in the Premier League with 45 goals. With Mbeumo now at Manchester United and Wissa keen to move on, Bees fans may not be quite as spoilt this campaign.

Rookie Brentford boss Keith Andrews described his young side's display during last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest as "naive", with Forest opening the scoring from a corner five minutes into the new season. The Bees conceded just three times from corners in the entirety of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign when Andrews was set-piece coach.

A consolation goal from Igor Thiago did at least keep Brentford out of the bottom three on goal difference, preserving their proud record of never having been in the Premier League relegation zone.

It was a deflating opening weekend – after a difficult summer – for Aston Villa, too. Unable to refresh the squad because of football's financial rules, they lacked any attacking spark during the goalless draw with Newcastle.

The absence of wingers and decision to push forward 2024-25 player of the season Youri Tielemans into a number 10 role meant Villa lacked guile, with their forward-thinking players starved of service. They failed to even attempt a shot in the first half, while their meagre expected goals tally of 0.20 was the lowest of any Premier League side.

However, manager Unai Emery has repeatedly found ways to get the best out of his Villa side and boasts the fourth-best record in the Premier League since his arrival in October 2022.

One of his immediate challenges will be to address his side's away form. Nine of Villa's 10 league defeats last season came on the road – a statistic that left them in the bottom half of that particular table.

They won away to Brentford though, with a goal from former Bees striker Ollie Watkins, and have scored in all eight meetings between the clubs.

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Brentford boss Keith Andrews has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Aston Villa (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• He confirmed Yoane Wissa "has been training with the team this week" but a decision on his matchday squad will be made tomorrow.

• On the Wissa situation: "He's a Brentford payer right now. My stance all along has been that I don't want him to leave. That hasn't changed. I don't want to lose a player of that quality. If he is here in the next 12 days then that is, as head coach, what I would like."

• He said Wissa playing "is not as simplistic" as some make out as "you have to be understanding of the bigger picture".

• Defender Ethan Pinnock and midfielders Yunus Emre Konak and Paris Maghoma have trained this week after recovering from their respective injuries so could be available.

• Mikkel Damsgaard, who missed the opening game due to becoming a father, is expected to return.

• For those sidelined on a longer-term basis, Vitaly Janelt is closer to a return after re-joining the first-team squad for training this week and Gustavo Nunes is back on the grass but not yet back in group training.

• On the possibility of more transfer business: "We are always looking and assessing the current squad that we have. One or two might still leave. It's about getting the balance of the squad right. We have a lot of quality in the squad."

• He said the season starting when the window is open "creates uncertainty" for a lot of clubs, so he deals with things "day-by-day" as "it is far from ideal what we are having to deal with".

• New signing Dango Ouattara could make his debut, with Andrews adding: "He was a really shrewd bit of business by the club. I like the assets that he has. He has got serious pace and an ability that has not been showcased enough. He's very ambitious and he feels this is the right platform for him to flourish. I would agree with that."

• He said he and his players "are itching" to kick-off their home campaign and he is "really excited" to mark his first home game in charge of the club.

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Wayne Rooney says Yoane Wissa and Alexander Isak are "like kids" in terms of their behaviour during the transfer window.

Both Wissa and Isak want to depart their respective clubs and have taken the uncommon approach of striking until a deal has been done.

Brentford's Wissa has removed all links to the club on his social media, blacked out his Instagram account and written 'ghost' in his bio.

"I just think it's really disrespectful," said Rooney on his Wayne Rooney Show, from BBC Sounds.

"Brentford have been there and given him a platform to go and perform in the Premier League and do well, and he has done well.

"He's a really good player. But to distance yourself from the football club, from your team-mates, from the fans?

"And to just unfollow the club and take all his pictures down of a club who've helped you progress as a player. If he wants to leave then I don't think anyone has a problem with that if it's done the right way.

"But I think these players are like kids now, or they're very badly advised in what they're doing because I know agents have influence.

"A lot of people have their father or the brother as an agent now and sometimes the right thing, or the right decision, is not always the one from the players' point of view.

"So it's very disappointing to see his behaviour over the last few days."

Listen to the Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sounds

Yoane Wissa's so-far unfulfilled desire to join Newcastle United is complicating matters for Brentford, although they have brought in Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth as they also look to compensate for the loss of Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United.

If Wissa gets his wish, which is not yet guaranteed, the Bees will surely need to move on a replacement for such a key player.

Aaron Hickey's brief return at Nottingham Forest after almost two years out with injury was great news, but Brentford may still look to strengthen at full-back.

Jordan Henderson adds experience in midfield, while Antoni Milambo gives energy, but with the influential Christian Norgaard now at Arsenal, Brentford may feel the need to add more creativity before the window shuts.

What we do know is that Brentford will do their business shrewdly.

Read what Phil thinks every club in the Premier League needs

Tottenham are stepping up their efforts to sign Brentford and Ireland defender Nathan Collins, 24, who has also attracted interest from Liverpool. (Caught Offside), external

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Newcastle are unwilling to pay more than £40m for Brentford striker Yoane Wissa but the Bees have put a £60m price tag on the 28-year-old. (Northern Echo, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

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Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford are set for another high profile departure with academy director Stephen Torpey lined up as Manchester United's new head of academy.

Current academy chief Nick Cox is leaving United after agreeing to become Everton's technical director.

Torpey is well known to United technical director Jason Wilcox as the pair worked together at Manchester City.

Wilcox is understood to have driven the recruitment process.

Cox is currently continuing in his role at Old Trafford and it is not known precisely when Torpey will be able to take the job.

It will be another exit in a summer of departures at Brentford.

United signed striker Bryan Mbeumo from the Bees for £65m last month, manager Thomas Frank left for Tottenham and skipper Christian Norgaard moved to Arsenal in a £15m deal. Forward Yoane Wissa is also in dispute with the club as he looks to complete a move to Newcastle.

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

It was great spending quality time with my son, brother and nephew - and Brentford's new third kit looked quite smart - but they were the only positives out of my trip to the sunny City Ground on Sunday.

Brentford were simply blown away by an impressive Nottingham Forest in a first half which was reminiscent of the 4-0 hammering at Aston Villa and 3-1 collapse at Burnley in previous seasons.

There have not been many truly awful performances in our time in the Premier League, but this was definitely one of them.

Of course there are mitigating circumstances.

Six of the players who started in our 2-0 win at Forest only three months ago were unavailable to start this game for various reasons, including new father Mikkel Damsgaard, but even so, what we witnessed in those first 45 minutes was to put it mildly - scary.

I am not panicking after one game and still believe that we won't be relegated.

The other crumb of comfort is that we maintained our record of never being in the bottom three for even one second of our Premier League life.

The team against Aston Villa next week should be stronger with the return of Damsgaard, the debut of new record signing Dango Ouattara and hopefully Kevin Schade and Jordan Henderson starting. Why the former Liverpool captain did not start on Sunday is a mystery.

But we will need to show a lot more cohesion, desire and determination to get a result and put this display behind us.

Find more from Ian Westbrook at Beesotted podcast, external

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

Here is why clubs like Newcastle are so keen on Yoane Wissa.

Only Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak scored more regularly than Wissa last season away from the penalty spot...

Why have we excluded penalties? Seems harsh on Mohamed Salah, etc. Because getting to score penalties isn't really down to the scorer but relies on team-mates. For example, Salah didn't win any of his nine penalties himself last season - and penalties are also down to the clumsiness of defenders and the opinion of that game's referee. Obviously all goals rely on service from team-mates to some extent but penalties are such huge goalscoring gifts that it's fairer on players who don't get to take them to exclude them.

You might think that the only way a Brentford forward could be up there with the likes of Haaland and Isak is because they enjoyed a hot streak of form in front of goal last season (i.e. they significantly overperformed their xG). While that was indeed the case for Wissa's former team-mate Bryan Mbeumo, it wasn't for Wissa himself...he just actually got a lot of really good chances to score last season.

Wissa was the apex predator of the penalty box in the Premier League, as his movement, anticipation etc - as well as Brentford's style of play - saw him take by far the highest-quality chances on average in the league.

Here is his Premier League shot map from last season...something that other strikers can only dream of in their sleep! His chances were so good that he didn't even have to be clinical, scoring his 19 goals from an xG of 18.6.

Newcastle are set to launch a new £35m bid for Yoane Wissa but Brentford will not sell the forward before signing a replacement. (Sun, external)

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We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Nottingham Forest and Brentford.

Here are some of your comments:

Nottingham Forest fans

Peter: Some of our play in the first half was the most fluid I've seen since we've been in this league. Brentford had no idea what was happening. Better late than never. Our new signings and those we've been linked to should address the issues that ultimately undid our bid for the top five last season.

Mark: Forest played some magnificent football in the first half. Every player we had on the pitch looked class. Gibbs-White and Anderson in particular were superb. The passes for goals two and three were top drawer. And there is more to come! I expect a higher finish in the league than last season.

Simon: Looks like Forest have the players to be more tactically flexible this season. Towards the end of last season teams were learning how to play them (and Forest players were getting tired). It now looks like they have more than one way to play and recruitment has been excellent.

Brentford fans

Will: A bit shocked that we let three in. Honestly, we looked half asleep in the first period. We were better in the second - it helped having Schade and then Henderson in. Should start them, and with Damsgaard back we will get needed creativity. Very much need more in the final third. Didn't see a visible strategy to deal with Forest's potent attack. Hope Andrews can learn and adjust as we move on. I hate to say it, but he looked kind of dazed.

Sam: A sloppy performance in which we were a shadow of our past selves. Defence and midfield was nowhere to be seen at times so when we lost the ball, Forest carved us open. Some positives - like Schade coming on and seeing Rico Henry back - but, overall, not pleased at all.

Richard: There were some positives but not many. We were outplayed by an in-form team. We have a lot of new players who in time will learn from this and improve. We go on to the next game with more information on where we need to improve. Come on, you Bees!

Pundits Danny Murphy and Joe Hart join host Gabby Logan to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Chelsea 0-0 Crystal Palace

• Nottingham Forest 3-1 Brentford

• Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal

Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

It has been a summer of change for Brentford, most notably in Thomas Frank and assistant Justin Cochrane being poached by London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Keith Andrews was promoted to the top job, but has had to deal with the loss of key players Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Norgaard and Mark Flekken - all sold in this transfer window.

Forward Yoane Wissa could soon be on his way too, with the Newcastle target left out of the Bees squad for the City Ground trip.

Andrews' first starting XI included debuts for keeper Caoimhin Kelleher, £17m Dutch attacking midfielder Antoni Milambo and right-back Michael Kayode, while Jordan Henderson made his Premier League return as a second-half substitute.

Former Republic of Ireland international Andrews has had to rebuild as he tries to maintain Brentford's impressive record of never having been in the relegation zone across the last four seasons.

That is a record they still maintain for now, but they are only out of the bottom three on goal difference.

All of Andrews' best-laid plans went out the window after the first meaningful attack of the match.

First, the corner was needless - captain Nathan Collins stepped in front of Kelleher and turned the ball behind, when the keeper was about to collect the ball under no pressure.

Boss Andrews, the club's former set-piece coach, could then only look on in dismay as three blue-shirted players around Chris Wood got in each others' way from the corner, allowing the New Zealander to turn home a loose ball for the opening goal.

Brentford had little in response after that.