Saturday 5th September 2026
Brentford v Sunderland – Premier League
Gtech Community Stadium – Kick-Off: 15:00
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is unavailable.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at
www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up…
It’s been a big week.
Starting with last weekend, the pressure was on to avoid going into today’s game still searching for our first win of
the season, and the Lads did the business.
Both sides looked nervy in the first half, with neither side wanting to commit too many bodies in the attack, but Le Bris stepped it up with changes around the hour mark, and we took advantage of the big moments that came our way.
But the important thing was that we got off the mark with points on the board, which potentially put us in a stronger position during midweek when it came to convincing players to come to Wearside.
Deadline day went a bit nuts when people started to monitor parked private planes, but we came out the other end stronger than we went in; and a little more of that business might be on show today.
The gaffer has a couple of selection headaches ahead of the game today, which also gives Martin a tougher job to second-guess what he’s going to do in this morning’s stab at the starting XI.
With his suspension and the drama of deadline day, we almost forgot we signed one of Europe’s best young full-backs in Dayann Methalie, and with Reinildo starting the season well, it will be interesting to see if Le Bris sticks with the same back four. It will be a similar situation with Kevin Danso, who also might provide more of an option if the manager decides to go three at the back at some point.
We’re all looking forward to seeing Malick Fofana after the carry-on in midweek, and after listening to the manager’s press conference, our new winger seems ready to go. When asked if the new signings were ready, he gave nothing away and replied with “we’ll see”.
It’s a tough test for the Lads in the capital, however. We haven’t beaten them away from home in the last four attempts and have to go back to Denis Smith’s first game in charge in August 1987, when Keith Bertschin scored the winner, to find when we last won at Brentford.
It surprised me when I saw it’s only Brentford’s sixth season in the Premier League – I would have guessed it’s been longer. Having said this, it appeared to a lot of people that the party was over last summer when Thomas Frank decided Spurs were a better vehicle for his talents; and he won’t be the last to make that mistake.
But Brentford had a plan, and that was the promotion of the set-piece coach, Keith Andrews, and they carried on where they left off. Eventually they were left a little frustrated after missing out on the Conference League on goal difference and finishing only a point behind ourselves.
They’ve spent over £100m on strengthening the squad and, probably more importantly and the complete opposite to last summer, they have kept hold of their top players. This has shown in how they’ve started the season.
On the opening day, they wiped the floor with Spurs, although time will tell how good a result that is based on Spurs getting their act together or not. They then swatted Birmingham City aside in the League Cup, winning 6-1, and they were potentially unlucky not to have picked up all three points at Leeds last week.
Reading the reports, they should have been out of sight by half-time at Elland Road, and if you have a quick listen to the opposition preview podcast, the expectation is that they come out of the blocks quickly this afternoon.
The betting…
The bookies have the Lads as outsiders at 4/1 to win the game, while Brentford are 13/20 to take all three points, and the draw is 14/5.
Head to head… at Brentford
(All competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 4
- Draws: 3
- Brentford wins: 4
- Sunderland goals: 23
- Brentford goals: 23
Last time we met… at Brentford
Wednesday 7th January 2026
Premier League
Brentford 3-0 Sunderland
[Thiago 30’, 65’, Yarmolyuk 73’]
Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele, Ballard (Cirkin), Alderete (O’Nien), Hume, Xhaka, Geertruida (Neil), Rigg (Mayenda), Le Fee, Adingra (Mundle), Brobbey Substitutes not used: Patterson, Hjelde, H. Jones, Tutierov
Brentford: Kelleher, Kayode (Hickey), Henry, Janelt, Ajer, Collins, Lewis-Potter (Damsgaard), Yarmolyuk, Thiago (Nelson), Jensen (Henderson), Schade Substitutes not used: Valdimarsson, Van Den Berg, Pinnock, Peart-Harris, Donovan
Attendance: 17,016
Prediction…
Brentford 1-1 Sunderland
It’s going to be a tough afternoon. They’ve started the season well, and I reckon we’ll have to survive some early pressure, but I think we’ll be solid enough to take something from the game. Anyone checked the odds on a Le Fee penalty this afternoon?.
