Both of these teams were in action in midweek in the Carabao Cup. While Burnley were losing O-1 at home to Spurs, Brentford progressed to the quarter finals of the competition with a 2-1 away win at Stoke. The Turf Moor meeting between the two will be the first time these sides have met in the top flight. Brentford have indeed made a remarkable start to life in the Premier League. An opening day swatting of big boys Arsenal has been followed by some bravura performances most notably a thrilling 3-3 draw against Liverpool.

Thomas Frank, who took over as Bees’ head coach when Dean Smith left for Aston Villa in October 2018, has masterminded Brentford’s rise through the Championship ranks. After losing the Championship play off final in 2020 to London rivals Fulham, Brentford reached the play off final again in 2020/21 this time defeating Swansea to return to the top flight for the first time since they were relegated at the end of the 1946/47 season. They have also made the move from traditional home Griffin Park to their new ground at the Brentford Community Stadium. A policy of finding talented players such as Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma and selling them on at a profit has been matched with astute moves in the transfer market to find replacements.

Brentford’s current squad includes a core of Scandinavian players who have so far comfortably made the step up to the EPL. One familiar face to Clarets fans in the Bees line up is star striker Ivan Toney who scored for Peterborough in an FA Cup tie at Turf Moor in January 2020 while Brentford fans will remember James Tarkowski from his days at Griffin Park.

Sean Dyche will have a number of selection headaches to deal with before naming his starting line up. Misfiring strikers and a porous midfield have seen Burnley unable to pick up a single League win so far. The time has surely come to inject new life into Burnley’s stuttering season by picking new signings Roberts, Collins and Cornet in that staring eleven and having a right go at outstinging the Bees.

The match referee is Jon Moss with Andy Madley on VAR. COYC!