It may seem that Brentford just left the Championship and played their first season in the elite, but the Bees are already in their fourth season here. The London club has managed to establish its roots in the APL to such an extent that it was no longer discussed in the list of candidates for relegation before the start of the season. According to the results of the last draw of the Premier League "Bees" took only sixteenth place, but the threat of departure of the team was out of the question - the extreme position of the "red zone" was located in thirteen points. Southampton were only one season absent from the Premier League. After the year before last year's departure, the team managed to return a year later. Despite such a successful turnaround, the "saints" passed an extremely difficult playoff, where in the final with a minimal difference in the score defeated Leeds United. Bookmakers have identified the home side as favourites for the upcoming encounter, offering odds of 1.79 on their victory.

Brentford have had quite an interesting transfer campaign. Igor Tiago arrived from Brugge as the main acquisition. Liverpool bought Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg for a total of €47 million. From Gremio came Gustavo Nunez for 12 million. Brentford management let Ivan Toney go to Al Ahli for a sum he is hardly worth, and David Raya went to try on the jersey of Arsenal's backup goalkeeper. In the opening round of the new season, Brentford's African Wissa and Mbeumo made the result against Crystal Palace a 2-1 draw. With Liverpool in the second round of equal play at the "bees" did not work out, they were quite convincingly "landed" with a score of 2:0.

Southampton in the off-season acquired goalkeeper Ramzdale from Arsenal, defender Harwood-Bellis from Manchester City and centre-back Flynn Downs from West Ham. Also on loan from Chelsea was taken Leslie Ugochukwu. Southampton have left strikers Che Adams and Sekou Mara, as well as centre midfielder Alcaraz. The Saints have started the season in a bad way. But it's not even about the two defeats, but the way they "acquired" them. For example, Newcastle were left with a 28th-minute penalty against Southampton in the first round, scored the only goal of the match, and the Saints were unable to recover with 78 per cent possession and 19 shots on goal. The visitors should be at least a little lucky at the third attempt.