Manchester United must avoid Brentford repeat to stop something that has not happened in 85 years

Manchester United can exorcise plenty of ghosts from the past when welcoming Brentford to Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

August's 4-0 defeat in west London feels much longer ago than the almost eight months it is. Defeat against Newcastle United last time out, just the third loss of 2023, brought those memories back to the fore as United were again well beaten on their travels against a team in the top-half of the table.

Other similarities remain when looking back at that red-hot late summer's day - there is no Casemiro again, for one. Back then, the defensive midfielder was still at Real Madrid, but now the Brazil international will serve the third match of a four-game suspension.

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Looking at the team defeated by Newcastle, eight of the starting line-up were involved in the reverse fixture. The only exceptions are January signings Marcel Sabitzer and Wout Weghorst, plus Antony, who would not sign until later in August as transfer deadline day approached.

Bruno Fernandes, who played the full 90 minutes of both matches, has previously described the feeling as "like it was the ghosts from the past" coming back to haunt the players on the pitch. "It was like getting back to the past," the Portugal international explained to The Athletic in September.

United must avoid going back to the past and repeating something that last happened 85 years old ago. With a win on Wednesday, Brentford would complete the league double over United for the first time since the 1936/37 season.

Coincidently, the first meeting of that campaign was also in the capital at Brentford's old Griffin Park ground and improbably ended in a 4-0