ERLING Haaland is in red-hot form, and that means Manchester City will be that much tougher to beat.
Add the industriousness of Rodri to that and you get a rather special steeliness in a team that appears to have shrugged off the hangover of last season.
City were in line for an unprecedented fifth straight league title, but instead fumbled their way to third place.
A couple of blips early this term might have worried a few, but beyond that, they have been wonderfully entertaining.
Haaland has been quite brilliant, scoring in every match he’s played – barring the one against Tottenham.
He netted twice against Monaco in the midweek Champions League tie, and not many will be betting against him adding to that tally when they take on Brentford tomorrow.
Rodri, who missed much of the last campaign through injury – and with it, City’s title hopes – now seems to have found his range again, dictating the pace in midfield and orchestrating the advance of a menacing City outfit of old.
This team has now scored two or more goals in six matches this season, and 10 times across their last four fixtures.
Brentford will be buoyed by their recent performances.
They beat Manchester United last weekend, after having seen off Aston Villa and drawn with Chelsea in the three games prior, across all competitions.
In our other featured matches, battling Man United will be hoping to bounce back against newly promoted Sunderland who have shown great promise and are fifth on the log.
Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils are languishing in 14th place.
Arsenal will be expected to sail past West Ham, who have new manager Nuno Espírito Santo in the dugout for a second week. — By SHAUN ORANGE
