Watford vs Brentford

Premier League Brentford will take on Watford in their final friendly match before the start of competition the following weekend at Vicarage Road on Saturday lunchtime.

The top-tier Bees have returned to England after a successful training camp in Portugal, while the Hornets have had a mixed bag of outcomes thus far this summer.

Prior to the 2024–25 season, former Manchester United and England player Tom Cleverley was appointed head coach of Watford. The 34-year-old will be responsible for leading the team back to its previous glory after taking over as temporary manager of Vicarage Road back in March.

After an unimpressive top-flight finish in the 2023–24 season, Brentford is starting to exhibit indications that their fairytale at the highest level of English football may be coming to an end as they enter their fourth consecutive season as a Premier League team.

A modest 39 points from 38 games was enough to keep the Bees in the first tier by 13 points, with Burnley, Sheffield United, and Luton Town far worse than the rest of the league. However, there have been alarming indications of regression at the Gtech Community Stadium.

That being said, Ivan Toney, the England international who scored 20 goals in the Premier League the season before, was absent for a significant portion of Thomas Frank's team's campaign. Toney returned from an eight-month betting ban in January and managed just four goals in 16 games.

Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, who scored 12 and nine league goals, respectively, for Brentford in the 2023–24 season, stepped up to the goalscoring plate for the team in the Premier League last time out in the absence of the former Peterborough United marksman.

For the first time since 2014, Watford finished in the bottom half of the Championship standings during a disappointing 2023-24 season. They ended 17 points behind sixth-placed Norwich City and just six points ahead of Birmingham City, who were relegated to League One.

Vicarage Road, once a stronghold during previous promotion campaigns, became a challenging venue for Watford last season. They won only six of their 23 home games and collected just 27 points, ranking them 20th in home performance.

Head coach Tom Cleverley has recently emphasized the need for squad improvements if the Hornets are to compete at the top end of the Championship this season, particularly after the departures of Ismael Kone and Ben Hamer to Marseille and Sheffield Wednesday, respectively.

Concerns among supporters have grown following a series of disappointing pre-season performances. Watford faced defeats against League One teams Reading and Wycombe Wanderers, as well as fourth-tier Gillingham, as the competitive season approaches.

Watford is concerned about the health of their captain, Wesley Hoedt, who was substituted out of the Wycombe match last time out because of a knee problem.

Young James Clarridge may start this weekend's friendly matchup as the Hornets seek to have the center-back fit before next Saturday's Championship opener against Millwall.

Igor Tudor seemed to be a revelation for Brentford after scoring 29 goals for Club Brugge in Belgium, but a catastrophic knee injury has sidelined the Brazilian until the conclusion of the current campaign.

Toney, who has already stated his desire to go to a larger club, may suffer greatly as a result of the 23-year-old's absence.

Mark Flekken is back with the Bees and likely start in goal at Vicarage Road after a brief stint with the Netherlands on the international scene this summer.