Everton travels to Brentford with a hope to overturn the recent slump and get back to winning ways after being winless in the last six games. The Bees secured promotion to the Premier League for the first time and started their debut campaign on a bright note, securing wins against Arsenal, West Ham and Wolves while drawing against the likes of Liverpool.
Thomas Frank’s side play high pressing football and during the initial phase of the campaign they had an element of surprise which helped them take off points against some of the in-form sides. The inertia has somewhat dwindled as Brentford are on a five game winless streak, losing four out of last five encounters in the English Top Flight.
Everton last won a game back in September. Putting a full stop to this calamitous run is very important especially before the Merseyside derby. Everton need to gain confidence and rhythm before they host archrivals Liverpool on 1st December. If this terrible run of form doesn’t stop, the heads will soon start dropping which could have detrimental effects ahead of the jam packed festive fixtures.
Rafa Benitez spoke to the press ahead of the game and highlighted the importance of winning this game and doing well throughout the 90 minutes. The table is incredibly tight and a couple of good results could propel Everton back into the top half and potentially even in the top eight, hence winning against Brentford becomes even more important.
Everton manager Rafa Benitez highlights the importance of securing a win against Brentford
"I think for us it is important to win any game, but this is the first one we have [to start a winning run with]. It’s a team that are doing well in the Premier League now, but we are close in the table. If you think about just winning one game, we could be really close to the top six.That is the situation in the table now, there a lot of teams that are very close and one game can change everything. Hopefully this game will change everything for us and we will be higher in the table and with more confidence for the next ones. (via club’s official website)"
For Brentford, striker Ivan Toney has been one of the most dependable players and outstanding goalscorers. Back when Toney was on Newcastle’s books, Benitez used to coach the Magpies. However, Benitez revealed that he never met Toney or trained him as he was out on loan during the time and never heard from the staff about him being a striking option.
Toney was the leading goalscorer in the Championship last season, racking up 33 goals in 48 appearances. The Englishman was a target for several Premier League sides in the summer but he stayed put at Brentford and has been growing in the league.
"One of the things they (the media) have been talking about, but I didn’t meet Ivan Toney at any time [at Newcastle]. I didn’t coach him any day, so I didn’t talk with him when I was there because he was on loan.All the reports that I had when I was asking for players for the first team, nobody was telling me that he was an option, and he was on loan and they sold him so I don’t have any contact with Ivan Toney and I didn’t have any contact himHe’s doing really well, I cannot argue about that. But some people say ‘oh Rafa didn’t use him’, I didn’t see the player, I didn’t talk with the player at any time because he was on loan for the time that I was there. I wasn’t aware of anything about him until he was doing really well in the Championship and he’s doing really well now in the Premier League. (via club’s official website)"
Everton did receive some optimistic news ahead of the away trip as Benitez delivered updates on Demarai Gray and Abdoulaye Doucoure.