VfL Wolfsburg are heading to London on Friday evening to face an unpredictable and versatile Premier League outfit.
London, Friday evening, floodlights – what better dress rehearsal for the Wolves ahead of the new season? VfL are taking on Brentford at 20.45 CEST at the Gtech Community Stadium, which has not long been hosting Premier League football.
Janelt part of Bees’ success story
London is home to seven teams who will be battling it out in the English top flight this season, namely Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and… Brentford. Everyone knows that the Gunners and the Blues play in the capital city of the UK, but if you failed to put Brentford on that list, you are not alone. At the very least, you have Vitaly Janelt for company…
“I had no idea where Brentford was when I was back in Bochum,” the 26-year-old admitted in an interview with kicker magazine. The defensive midfielder moved from Bundesliga 2 to West London around four years ago and was part of the side which made history by winning promotion to the English top flight for the first time in the club’s history in the 2020/21 season. The former German U21 international has gone on to make 161 appearances for the Bees, who are now part of the furniture in the Premier League.
Rivalling Haaland and Kane
Much of their recent success has been down to Ivan Toney, whose 72 goals make him all-time top-scorer for the club founded in 1889. In the 2022/23 season, the England international was third only to Erling Haaland (on 36 goals) and Harry Kane (30) in the Premier League. He was unable to repeat this performance in the most recent campaign however, due to an eight-month ban for illegal betting, which kept him on the sidelines until 20 January 2024. The now 28-year-old lost little time once he was allowed back into the fold, scoring in four of the first five matches after his return.
Disruptive and unpredictable
It is crucial for Brentford to keep Toney at the club, with the robust centre-forward very much the focal point of Thomas Frank’s squad. The Danish head coach takes a flexible approach to formations, based on the availability of his own players and how the opposition tends to operate. This unpredictability has made the Bees an awkward opponent, as our own Ralph Hasenhüttl found out during his time at the helm of Southampton. Three times he faced them, and on all three occasions, Frank changed his formation (from 4-2-3-1 to 3-5-2 to 4-3-3). It proved a successful ploy, with Brentford winning two of those matches, although the Saints took the spoils in the other.
