Thursday, December 5, 2024

Corberan ‘completely focused’ on West Brom amid Leicester links

SoccerNews in General Soccer News 27 Nov 2024

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West Brom head coach Carlos Corberan insisted he was “completely focused” on his job at the Hawthorns amid links to the vacant Leicester City manager role.

The Foxes parted company with Steve Cooper on Sunday following their 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, leaving them 16th in the Premier League table after 12 games of the season.

Several names have been linked with taking the reins at the King Power Stadium, including Graham Potter, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gareth Southgate and Corberan.

But following West Brom’s stalemate with Sunderland on Tuesday, the Baggies’ eighth draw in their last nine Championship games, Corberan distanced himself from taking on the job.

“I can only say how focused I am at West Bromwich, how proud I feel to be the coach of this amazing club,” Corberan said.

“I understand that football always has speculation around, but I didn’t even know that Leicester’s coach was sacked, for example, until last night. There is so much speculation that can appear out of my control.

“I am completely focused in my work, my club, to get better form, to give fans better results and hopefully our fans don’t feel any type of lack of respect because there are always things in the media we cannot control.”

Brentford, meanwhile, were able to come away with a point at Goodison Park despite spending the entirety of the second half with a man less in their goalless draw with Everton.

Christian Norgaard was sent off in the 41st minute following a challenge on Jordan Pickford while attempting to score in the six-yard box, with VAR recommending on-field referee Chris Kavanagh to review the incident on the pitch-side screen, resulting in his dismissal.

The Bees have since won the appeal against a potential three-match ban for the Danish international, but head coach Thomas Frank was pleased that his side were able to battle against adversity to claim a first clean sheet of the campaign.

“It was tough, it wasn’t easy, the boys dug in,” he stated. “We started off really well, playing some good football. We had that tough second half, it was a slog, but we did well with it.”

“[Christian] Norgaard was gutted at half-time, we know how much he does for us, so that second half was for him, for everything he does.

“To get that first clean sheet is great, that’s been frustrating me! 95 per cent of games we’ve been defending well; that five per cent we’ve conceded scrappy goals. But we deserved that.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Brentford – Yoane Wissa

Wissa has been involved in nine goals in his last five Premier League home games for Brentford (seven goals, two assists), scoring in each of those five games.

Team-mate Bryan Mbeumo, meanwhile, has either scored or assisted in his last six at the Gtech Community Stadium (seven goals, one assist).

Leicester – Jamie Vardy

Vardy has scored four goals from five shots on target in the Premier League this season, the joint-best shot on target conversion of any player with five or more attempts (80%).

Meanwhile, the best conversion rate of any player with 10+ shots on target is Brentford’s Wissa (70% – 7/10), so the game could be won or lost in the forward areas.

MATCH PREDICTION: BRENTFORD WIN

While Brentford are favoured by Opta’s data-led simulations, they have won none of their four Premier League meetings with Leicester (D2 L2), only facing Newcastle (six) more often in the competition without ever winning.

However, the Bees have won more home points (16) and scored more home goals (18) than any other side in the Premier League this season. They’ve won five of their six at the Gtech Community Stadium and are looking to win four in a row at home for the first time ever in the Premier League.

Brentford’s last three home games have seen them win 5-3 against Wolves, 4-3 against Ipswich and 3-2 against Bournemouth. The Bees last scored three or more goals in four consecutive home league games between April and May 1984, while the last team to win four straight top-flight home games while conceding 2+ goals each time were Leicester in October 1964.

Leicester are unbeaten in their last eight league games against Brentford (W5 D3), since a 3-2 home loss in the second tier in March 1953.

But they have won just one of their last 13 Premier League away games against London sides (D3 L9), shipping two or more goals on each of their last five top-flight visits to the capital (D1 L4).

Despite having just two wins from their 12 league games this season, no side has scored in more different Premier League games so far this term than Leicester (11). Their only failure to score was in their last away match against Manchester United (0-3).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Brentford – 59.5%

Draw – 21.2%

Leicester – 19.3%

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SoccerNews

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