Erik ten Hag might only get two minutes before Man United sack pressure re-emerges

Premier League matches immediately after international breaks often, inevitably, get off to slow starts due to the disrupted preparations that teams face during the fortnight preceding them.

Manchester United were guilty of sluggishness in their early kick-off at Southampton, last month, when a penalty save from Andre Onana was needed to spark them that day. Half-an-hour later, Alejandro Garnacho grabbed the third goal of that match to secure their second, and still most recent, Premier League win of the season. Brentford made a contrasting start to their game against Manchester City.

It took just 22 seconds for Yoane Wissa to silence the Etihad Stadium. Ultimately, though, another 30 minutes on, Pep Guardiola's star-studded team completed the turnaround thanks to goals from Erling Haaland, much like they had done in their previous home fixture against Kieran McKenna's newly-promoted Ipswich Town.

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Despite that defeat, Brentford were not deterred and they did it again a week later with Bryan Mbuemo scoring a second later than that Wissa goal was in the next away game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Albeit in defeat, once again, the tricky forward took a little longer, some 38 seconds, before opening the scoring against West Ham in their next match on from that.

Brentford picked up a point, on that occasion, after returning home to west London in late-September, and the team started this month similarly sharply. Nathan Collins headed in with 75 seconds on the clock when facing his former club, Wolves, to set Brentford on their way to an elusive victory.

The Bees have not won at Old Trafford since 1937, while Scott McTominay ensured that stayed the same way with two goals in stoppage-time just before October's international break last year. United again play Brentford in their eighth league game this season and cannot afford to fall behind as they did on that occasion, especially as early as Thomas Frank's side has been taking the lead recently.

At that stage of last season, United had also lost to Brighton and Tottenham, while confidence was similarly low. Ten Hag's players must, therefore, learn their lessons from the previous time Brentford were at Old Trafford after receiving several reminders over the last month about the threat their opponents pose, particularly in the opening exchanges of top-flight matches.