Defence will dominate
A match from the English Premier League is recommended to kick off the jam-packed football Saturday this weekend. In the course of the fifth matchday of the 2021/22 season, the duel between Wolverhampton and Brentford takes place at the Molineux Stadium. Both teams have won one of their first four league matches
The home side from the industrial city of Wolverhampton have suffered three defeats in addition to this win, while the promoted side from London can be quite satisfied with their results in the Premier League so far, with two draws and only one defeat. Nevertheless, the bookmakers are offering betting odds of under 2.00 on a home win in the clash between Wolverhampton and Brentford.
The “Portugal-Connection” from Wolverhampton certainly has far more experience and with players like Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho & Co also enormous individual quality. Meanwhile, the “Bees” from London are a team that leaves nothing to chance and works extremely hard with all conceivable statistics. The match kicks off on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Wolverhampton – Statistics & current form
After four years, Portuguese head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s tenure at Wolves has come to an end. Unsurprisingly, his successor is also Portuguese and goes by the name of Bruno Lage. The 45-year-old held various positions at Benfica Lisbon for years and was also head coach of the Red Eagles for just under a year and a half.
Finally written up
After two very good years in the Premier League (seventh place in each), last season did not necessarily go according to plan for Wolverhampton. 14 points less than in the previous year were collected and thus only 13th place could be achieved.
Nevertheless, expectations are still very high and Bruno Lage has to be measured against a single-digit place in the table. The first weeks brought Wolverhampton a difficult programme and against Leicester, Tottenham and Manchester United they had to cope with 1-0 defeats each Last weekend, the negative run (season-long six defeats in a row) was finally stopped. Wolverhampton won 2-0 against promoted Watford. Two late goals were the cause of great jubilation in the Yellow camp.
Surprisingly many scoring opportunities
With that, all four Premier League games this season ended with an Under 2.5.This is not necessarily surprising with Wolves, as the DNA of the team stands for a lot of security and stability.
Not for nothing do Wolverhampton operate in a 5-4-1 system with two deep sixes (Neves and Moutinho). In this respect, it is very surprising that the Lage eleven has averaged 17.8 shots and five shots on goal per game in the four games so far this season. However, the quality of the shots leaves much to be desired given the paucity of goals. In the duel between Wolverhampton and Brentford, a tip on few goals is absolutely obvious
Predicted Wolverhampton line-up:
Sa – Marcal, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Semedo – Traore, Moutinho, Neves, Trincao – Jimenez.
Last matches played by Wolverhampton:
Brentford – Statistics & current form
Statistics fans take note – Brentford FC is henceforth one of your favourite clubs. The basis for the Bees’ promotion last season is facts, figures and data. When selecting new players, the emotional level is completely removed and each player is broken down statistically into all the individual parts. Brentford is a perfect example that success can be bought after all. However, it doesn’t take countless millions to achieve it, but a sophisticated scouting system.
Offensive still can’t match last year
2019/20 the million finals in the Championship playoffs were still lost by a razor-thin margin, last season the jubilation knew no bounds when the Bees fixed the first-time Premier League promotion.
With 79 goals in 46 league games, Frank’s team had the best attack in the entire league. One level higher up, more football is played and less “fighting”, which should actually suit the Bees. But so far, the promoted team has not been able to match last year’s offensive performance. In all four league games combined, Brentford have fired only nine shots on goal, with only bottom-placed Norwich having fewer (eight).
Very strong defence
Offensively, the promoted team operates like a lukewarm breeze, but defensively there is no reason for criticism. The Spanish goalkeeper David Raya has had to make three saves so far and the “expected goals against” are also an absolutely strong value with 2.7. Only Manchester City has a better value in this statistic (2.2).
The early Saturday match in the motherland of football will probably not be a treat for fans of attacking football, but rather a tactics lesson. Both teams are likely to take very few risks and in that respect, between Wolverhampton and Brentford, not only does the Under 2.5 forecast suggest itself, but the riskier Under 1.5 is certainly an option.
The Premier League debutants could become only the third team in PL history to score in each of their first three away games as a promoted team. Only Portsmouth (2003/04) and Hull (2008/09) have previously achieved this.
Predicted Brentford line-up:
Raya – Jansson, Pinnock, Ajer – Henry, Nörgaard, Baptiste, Janelt, Canos – Mbeumo, Toney.
Last matches played by Brentford:
Wolverhampton – Brentford Direct comparison / H2H record
Wolverhampton Wanderers have won three of their last four league games against the Bees, including their most recent clash in January 2018, which ended in a 3-0 home win in favour of Wolves. In the 21st century, Brentford have won just one of their five visits to the Molineux (one draw, three defeats), that victory resulting in October 2015.
In England’s top flight, Wolverhampton vs Brentford is not a match to bet on, as none of the ten previous encounters ended in a draw, and both teams have won five of them. However, the last first division duel between the teams was several decades ago (1946/47).
Wolverhampton – Brentford Tip
Two teams face each other at the Molineux Stadium early on Saturday afternoon who have a few things in common. Both teams have a lot of playful class on the offensive, yet both teams are dominated by their own defence “Safety first” is the motto and accordingly not many goals are to be expected. For the under 2.5 between Wolverhampto and Brentford only odds around 1.50 are offered
Qualitatively, Wolves are certainly still a step above the promoted team and accordingly the role of favourite is also in order, although betting odds around 1.90 are not particularly lucrative. After all, Brentford have not lost an away game so far and have conceded only two goals in four games. A game with few highlights is to be expected and probably a single mistake could decide victory or defeat. Therefore, in the duel between Wolverhampton and Brentford, the somewhat risky prediction is aimed at the under 1.5 with a stake of four units.
