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2024/25 English Premier League
Matchday 4
Manchester City v Brentford
Etihad Stadium
Manchester, England
Saturday, 14 September 2024
Kick-off is at 16h00
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insists the real season starts now as the defending champions prepare for the visit of Brentford to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, September 14.
The Citizens have a perfect record thus far in the
Premier League after a 3-1 win over West Ham in the capital on August 31 took them to the top of the table ahead of Liverpool on goals scored.
Erling Haaland scored his second consecutive hat-trick and the 11th of his City career to lead the early charge for a third straight Golden Boot - a feat only managed by Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry.
Pep Guardiola's side have scored more goals than any other team (9), although they've only kept one clean sheet when they beat Chelsea 2-0 on the opening weekend.
The Bees trail the league leaders by three points in sixth place as they bounced back from the 2-0 defeat away to the Reds with a 3-1 triumph over newly-promoted Southampton at the Gtech Community Stadium on August 31.
Thomas Frank's side are one of just three clubs in the top half of the table to have lost a game, the other two being Aston Villa (7th) and Tottenham (10th).
The West Londoners have proven tricky customers for City since earning promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 2021, winning two of their six encounters and losing by a single goal on two occasions.
Image copyright: Getty Images
Guardiola praised the efforts of Haaland, who has taken his tally for the season to seven goals, but was keen to point out that the real work was still to come.
"I'm really pleased for him (Haaland) but now officially pre-season is over and the national break starts the real season so we see how he recovers for this amount of games," the Spaniard said.
"We're really pleased to have one title already (the Community Shield) and nine points - the season starts after 10 or 11 fixtures.
"But it is important for us after the short preparation for most of the players and after winning the Premier League last season we see that they are still there, they want to compete and play good and understand the processes."
Bryan Mbeumo has hit the ground running in 2024-25, with his brace against the Saints making it three goals in his first three games, and Frank highlighted the Cameroonian's importance to the team.
"He started the [last] season exceptionally well. When he got injured in December, he was on track to have an unbelievable season," the Dane said.
"I think he has just picked up the level again. He's a very important player for us and did well."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Man City wins - 3
Brentford wins - 2
Draws - 0
Premier League Matchday 4 fixtures:
Saturday, September 14
13h30: Southampton v Manchester United
16h00: Brighton & Hove Albion v Ipswich Town
16h00: Crystal Palace v Leicester City
16h00: Fulham v West Ham United
16h00: Liverpool v Nottingham Forest
16h00: Manchester City v Brentford
18h30: Aston Villa v Everton
21h00: Bournemouth v Chelsea
Sunday, September 15
14h30: Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal
14h30: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Newcastle United
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