Brentford vs Man City live: Team news and updates as City bid to capitalise on Liverpool disarray

As Pep Guardiola sought to explain a record low, he provided an explanation that could be interpreted in different ways.

Tactically, that feels truer than ever. They have fewer pure passers of the ilk of Ilkay Gundogan and David Silva. Their front three can feature fast, direct attackers like Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku, not midfielders masquerading as wingers and false nines.

For Man City, Rodri overcame his knee injury to play an hour in Wednesday’s draw with Monaco and may do likewise here but Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Abdudokir Khusanov and Rayan Cherki remain out until after the international break.

Mateo Kovacic has returned to training but may struggle to be match-fit for this weekend.

Predicted Man City XI: Donnarumma; Lewis, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Rodri; Silva, Foden, Reijnders, Doku; Haaland

For Brentford, both Reiss Nelson (illness) and Fabio Carvalho (knee) are set to return this weekend. Meanwhile, Gustavo Nunes (hamstring) and Paris Maghoma (hamstring) are both back on the grass and Nunes could be fit for a place on the bench against City.

Bees boss Keith Andrews must decide whether to stick with the 4-3-3 that got a result against Manchester United last weekend or revert to the 3-5-2 that he has used against tougher opposition like Chelsea. Kristoffer Ajer would likely come in for Dango Ouattara if he decides on the latter.

Predicted Brentford XI: Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, Van den Berg, Hickey; Henderson, Yarmolyuk; Ouattara, Damsgaard, Schade; Thiago

Viewers in the UK can watch the match on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, with coverage starting at 4.25pm BST on the former and 4pm on the latter. Subscribers can also stream the match online via NOWTV.

If you’re not a Sky customer, you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

The match is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 5 October at the Gtech Community Stadium in London. Kick-off is set for 4.30pm BST.

City currently sit eighth, six points behind new league leaders Arsenal after beating Burnley 5-1 last weekend in a match that was harder work than the final scoreline suggests.

New Brentford boss Keith Andrews had seen his side struggle at the start of this season, languishing down near the relegation zone, but an impressive 3-1 triumph over the hapless Man United last weekend came as a boon and they’ll hope to spring an upset over the blue half of Manchester today.

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of today’s Premier League action which sees Manchester City travel to Brentford in the hopes of closing the gap on the league leaders.

Liverpool’s last-minute loss to Chelsea on Saturday means that Arsenal now top the table and the reigning Premier League champions have questions that need answering over the upcoming international break.

Their downturn in form has blown the title race wide open and Pep Guardiola’s side must now capitalise. City come into the match six points behind the Gunners but can cut that to three with a victory over the Bees.

We’ll have all the updates, team news and more throughout the afternoon so stick with us as we build up to kick off at 4.30pm.