Many questions were asked about Brentford’s ability to continue their upward trajectory without Ivan Toney doing what he does best up front, but Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa have provided all of the answers so far, and Fulham were no match for the Bees’ superiority last week.
In similar fashion, the Cottagers were also adapting to life without a talismanic striker in the shape of Al-Hilal-bound Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Marco Silva could do with taking a leaf out of Thomas Frank’s book, as Wissa’s first-half opener preceded Mbeumo’s calm penalty and late tap-in in a Craven Cottage romping.
With another two strikes to show from their opening draw versus Tottenham Hotspur, only eight-goal leaders Brighton & Hove Albion have netted more times than Brentford thus far in the 2023-24 Premier League season, and the Bees are sitting pretty in fourth place with 36 games to go.
Including the end of last season, Frank’s exciting crop have taken 13 of the last 15 Premier League points available to them and are aiming to score for the 15th top-flight home game on the bounce this weekend, further solidifying the Gtech’s status as a fortress.
Since the start of last season, only Arsenal and Newcastle United have beaten the Bees on their own patch in the top flight, although Frank also has a midweek EFL Cup showdown with Newport County to take into account ahead of the visit of the Eagles
Not one team from the capital managed to get the better of Arsenal in the 2022-23 Premier League season, and the Gunners would draw first blood at Selhurst Park on Monday through Martin Odegaard’s spot kick, although Palace huffed and puffed against Mikel Arteta’s 10 men after a controversial red card for Takehiro Tomiyasu.
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However, the tightly-packed Gunners backline proved impossible for Roy Hodgson’s troops to penetrate, as Arsenal survived a nail-biting final 30 minutes to cling on for a one-goal success and bring Palace crashing straight back down to earth following their own 1-0 win at Sheffield United on the opening weekend.
Nevertheless, Hodgson can take satisfaction from the fact that Selhurst Park is evidently still a difficult place for visiting teams to come, and the Eagles travel to Brentford having only suffered defeat in two of their last six Premier League away matches, although the most recent of those beatings came away to a London rival in Tottenham Hotspur.
Furthermore, Brentford and Palace have truly defined the term evenly-matched since the Bees’ promotion to the big time, playing out a pair of 0-0 draws in 2021-22 before two 1-1 stalemates last season, but few may expect that pattern to continue with an entertaining four-goal draw here.
