Brentford were missing striker Igor Thiago in their eventual 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup this week.
The Brazilian has been a revelation for the Bees this season under boss Keith Andrews, recording 11 Premier League goals in 16 appearances.
Despite Brentford languishing a little too close to the relegation zone, Thiago is bucking the club’s trend by establishing himself as the league’s top scorer, behind only Erling Haaland.
Igor Thiago injury latest ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brentford
It was therefore a worrying sight for all connected with Brentford – and, indeed, those with a Fantasy Premier League interest – when the teamsheet for their Carabao Cup visit to the Etihad Stadium dropped with Thiago’s name omitted.
Naturally, following the defeat, Andrews was asked about the absence ahead of the Bees’ upcoming clash against league strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers this Saturday.
The Brentford boss confirmed that Thiago and Jordan Henderson are both suffering with “knocks”, but didn’t rule them out of contention for the weekend.
“They didn’t quite make this one, but [they’re] not far off,” Andrews confirmed. “So, we’ll just see how they are tomorrow and then we’ll dust ourselves down and see how everyone else is, obviously after a tough 90 minutes plus.
“We’ll focus on Wolves once we debrief this in the morning.”
The Bees will be keen to have Thiago available for selection if at all possible, as they have another key attacker unavailable in Dango Ouattara, who has now departed to link up with Burkina Faso at the Africa Cup of Nations.
In the pair’s absence, Andrews selected Kevin Schade and Mikkel Damsgaard as his two primary forwards against City.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, as Brentford’s main attacking threat, they’ll be keen to get Thiago back in the squad as soon as possible.
Wolves is the best game to have coming up with a depleted squad, having only accumulated two points this season, but the Bees are only seven points clear of the drop zone themselves, so will want to guard against complacency.
Brentford have a tricky few games coming up, hosting Bournemouth and Spurs before a trip to Everton, all before the end of the first week in January.
Thiago is worth €35m, according to Transfermarkt.
