Colchester vs Brentford Prediction: Bees to avoid sting in the tail

Colchester and Brentford meet in round two of the Carabao Cup for the second time in the space of three seasons when they do battle at the JobServe Community Stadium on Wednesday.

Goals from Keane Lewis-Potter and Mads Bech Sorensen helped the Premier League Bees to a 2-0 victory on their last visit to Colchester in August 2022 and Thomas Frank’s side will come into this game on the back of a win and a defeat to start the new season.

League Two Colchester only narrowly avoided relegation from the EFL last term and they have started their latest fourth-tier campaign with a win and two defeats, although they did set up this tie by seeing off Reading via a penalty shootout in the first round.

Colchester vs Brentford Odds

Given this is a Premier League side visiting a League 2 team, it is no surprise Brentford are 2/7 favourites to win the match, while Colchester are 8/1 outsiders. The draw, which would see the contest go straight to penalties, is available at 4/1.

A repeat of Brentford’s 2-0 victory from two seasons ago is 6/1, while Lewis-Potter, who opened the scoring that day, is 13/2 to repeat that trick on Wednesday.

Team News

Colchester delivered an encouraging display despite going down 1-0 to Harrogate last time out and head coach Danny Cowley is likely to go with a similar line-up for this one, although defender Ben Goodliffe is pushing for a recall after a recent facial injury.

Thomas Frank is likely to ring the changes for this cup clash, which could mean a debut for new signing Sepp van den Berg, while Fabio Carvalho, who also joined from Liverpool this summer, will be hoping for his first start.

Aaron Hickey (hamstring), Igor Thiago (meniscus), Rico Henry and Joshua Dasilva (both knee) all remain sidelined, while Ivan Toney’s future at the club is still up in the air and he could have left by the time this match gets underway.

Brentford and both teams to score @ 7/4

Colchester have been consistent strugglers in League Two over recent times, finishing in the bottom five in three of the last four seasons, but there are signs of encouragement for the U’s this term under Cowley.

In their three home fixtures to date, they have knocked League One Reading out of this competition, beaten one of the fourth-tier promotion favourites in MK Dons and were unlucky in defeat against Harrogate last time out, as they had over 63% possession and won the shot count 24-8.

That was the first time this season that Colchester had failed to net at least twice in a game and they will be hopeful of finding their scoring touch once more against a Brentford side that is likely to be much changed from the one that lost at Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.

Brentford are certainly not a team that is watertight at the back, especially on the road, as they are without a clean sheet in any of their last nine away matches, but their top-flight quality should ultimately shine through and they can avoid being on the receiving end of a cup shock.

Fabio Carvalho to score anytime @ 6/5

If new recruit Carvalho is handed a first Brentford start then he can mark the occasion with a goal.

The Portuguese attacking midfielder notched nine times during the second half of last season while on loan at Hull and he should have too much quality for a Colchester defence that was amongst the leakiest in League Two last term.

Carvalho will be one of the players that will have to fill the goalscoring burden should Toney depart before the close of the transfer window, and he can underline those credentials in Essex.

Offers

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 100% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down.

Tuesday (27/08): Place an In-Play single bet of £10 or more at odds of 1/2+ on any EFL Cup game on Tuesday and get £5 in Free Bets to use In-Play on Wednesday.

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