Andrews relieved as Brentford escape Wissa return with Newcastle

Keith Andrews may be breathing a sigh of relief with Yoanne Wissa absent to face his former club Brentford when Newcastle United travel to the Gtech Community Stadium.

Sunday pits an enticing encounter between two settled Premier League sides aiming to climb the table, with 13th-placed Brentford a point and position above Newcastle.

The meeting at the Gtech could have had an added edge, if not for Wissa's ongoing knee injury that will deny him an early return to Brentford, who he left for Eddie Howe's side in the last transfer window.

"Wissa is a very good player, so I am not too displeased that he is not going to be available because it's the nature of competing against teams," Brentford boss Andrews said.

"Around the transfer window, I was glad when it was closed; it wasn't enjoyable for a lot of people, I would imagine.

"I think the nature of that deal in particular – there was a lot made around certain aspects of it. Ultimately, they paid a really good fee for a player of a certain age, a really good player, but I think we as a club did pretty well out of that."

Wissa is yet to don the Newcastle shirt in the Premier League, but will have been watching on frustrated as his new side lost 3-1 to West Ham last time out in the competition.

Howe's side responded with a 2-0 Champions League win over Athletic Club, which sets them up nicely for the trip to Brentford, who lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace in their last Premier League outing.

Former Sunderland midfielder, and now Brentford captain, Jordan Henderson will be keen to get one over his former rivals on Sunday.

"He's been brilliant, he's clearly done a bit in the game," Andrews said of Henderson.

"When our captain [Christian Norgaard] left this summer to go to Arsenal, we were quick to highlight somebody that could come in and make an immediate impact.

"Someone that had experience of the league, know-how, and when Jordan's name came known to me that he was available, we did the due diligence and since coming he has grown in stature and his role within the group."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Brentford – Igor Thiago

Igor Thiago has three goals in his last three home Premier League appearances, and has six overall to leave him joint-second in the competition's scoring charts.

The Brentford striker is also doing the hard yards. He has applied the most high-intensity pressures to opponents overall (554), in the opposition half (367) and in the final third of the pitch (242) this season.

Newcastle United – Jacob Murphy

Jacob Murphy’s opening goal against West Ham last time out was his 50th Premier League goal involvement (21 goals, 29 assists).

The Newcastle winger is looking to score in three appearances in a row for the first time, while he has been involved in 21 goals in his last 30 starts (10 goals, 11 assists).

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

Opta's live win predictor was split on these two sides ahead of Saturday's clash, and a draw may not be a bad call at the Gtech.

Brentford have won just one of their eight Premier League games against Newcastle (D1 L6), though it was a 4-2 victory in this exact fixture last season.

Newcastle are also winless in their last eight away top-flight matches (D4 L4), failing to score more than once in any of those games and having a shot conversion rate of 4% across those outings.

They have managed only 12 points after 10 Premier League games this season (W3 D3 L4), their fewest at this stage of a season under Howe.

That return marks Howe’s fewest points after 10 games since 2017-18 as Bournemouth boss (seven), and there are no guarantees Newcastle will turn this around in west London.

Brentford have won 11 of their last 17 home Premier League matches that have not come against fellow London teams (D2 L4), with five wins in their last six (L1).

Expect excitement, too, given Brentford vs Newcastle has the highest goals-per-game average of any Premier League fixture to be played at least eight times (4.1). There have been 33 goals in the eight meetings between the pair, with four of those seeing at least six goals scored.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Brentford win – 35.6%
Draw – 26.1%
Newcastle United win – 38.3%