On Saturday, 4th May, as part of the 36th round of the Premier League, Brentford will host Fulham on their home turf. Despite their 1-0 defeat by Everton last weekend, the Bees have secured their place in the elite division for another year, whilst the visitors drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace and currently occupy 13th place.
Brentford: Flecken; Ajer, Collins, Pinnock, Reguilón; Janelt, Nørgaard, Jensen; Mbeumo, Toney, Shade.
Fulham: Leno; Castagne, Diop, Ream, Robinson; Palhinha, Lukic; Iwobi, Pereira, Willian; Muniz.
Occupying 16th place in the Premier League table and 10 points clear of the relegation zone, Brentford has already ensured its stay in the top division. After a string of nine games without a win (four draws and five defeats), Thomas Frank’s men have managed to beat two relegation strugglers - Sheffield United (2-0) and Luton Town (1-5), pushing the Bees away from the 18th slot. Last weekend, Brentford suffered a defeat at the hands of Everton (1-0), but results of their rivals ensured a comfortable end to the season; Jordan Pickford made a couple of impressive saves, whilst Idrissa Gueye’s solitary goal decided everything. In the remaining rounds, the hosts face a tough trip to Bournemouth and a clash with Newcastle, hence the Bees would certainly like to please their home crowd with a victory.
Overall, Brentford’s home performance this season has not been impressive: the team has managed to earn only 21 points from 17 home matches (fifth worst tally), scoring 27 goals and conceding 30. As has been the case for the past few weeks, the Red and Whites cannot count on the injured Mbe, Hiki and Henry, and experienced Dasilva either. On the positive note, forward Ivan Toney (4 goals in 14 matches) is fully recovered and so are Mbeumo (8 goals and 5 assists) and Vissa (10 goals). Left-back Reguilón (3 assists in the last 4 matches) is likely to start this Saturday, and Kevin Shade, who has been used as a substitute in the past three matches, could also get some game time.
Having entrenched themselves in the lower half of the table, Fulham currently sit in 13th place in the Premier League and have not been able to boast about any noteworthy performances for several weeks now. Lack of motivation invariably affects Londoners' end of season showing: the Cottagers have won just one of their last six league matches, with two draws and three losses. Predictably losing at home to Liverpool (1-3), Marco Silva's squad drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace last weekend: just three minutes before the end of regulation time, Jeffrey Schlupp seized the ball 25 meters from the goal and unleashed a powerful strike, depriving Bernd Leno of a clean sheet. Despite this, the Black and Whites have been unbeaten in the last three London derby matches, and have only lost one of their previous six matches against the capital clubs.
On Saturday, Silva's charges will be looking to score in their seventh consecutive Premier League away match. Fulham's squad is still without absentees, which is surely cheering news for their fans. After four goalless rounds, Rodrigo Muniz (9 goals) finally scored in the last round, so there's no doubt about the Brazilian's presence on the front line, supported by playmaker Andreas Pereira (3 goals and 8 assists) and winger Iwobi (5 goals and 2 assists). Portuguese central midfielder João Palhinha (4 goals) will continue to orchestrate the Cottagers' play in the middle of the field. Tim Ream is expected to replace Issa Diop in defence, while either Sasa Lukic or Tom Cairney will appear in the holding area.
In August last year, the Cottagers were trounced 0-3 in a home match by Brentford, and in March they lost 3-2 to the Bees away.
Both Brentford and Fulham will take to the field this weekend with no tournament motivations, making it hard to expect sparks in the derby between the two Western London representatives, especially considering that top players will be keen to avoid injuries ahead of Euro 2024. In such situations, matches often end in a draw, and we predict that's what will happen this Saturday.
# | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | G | PTS | |
1 | Liverpool | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 21:6 | 28 | |
2 | Manchester City | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 22:13 | 23 | |
3 | Chelsea | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 21:13 | 19 | |
4 | Arsenal | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 18:12 | 19 | |
5 | Nottingham | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 15:10 | 19 | |
6 | Brighton | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 19:15 | 19 | |
7 | Fulham | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 16:13 | 18 | |
8 | Newcastle | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13:11 | 18 | |
9 | Aston Villa | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 17:17 | 18 | |
10 | Tottenham | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 23:13 | 16 | |
11 | Brentford | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 22:22 | 16 | |
12 | Bournemouth | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 15:15 | 15 | |
13 | Manchester Utd | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 12:12 | 15 | |
14 | West Ham | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | -6 | 13:19 | 12 | |
15 | Leicester | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -7 | 14:21 | 10 | |
16 | Everton | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -7 | 10:17 | 10 | |
17 | Ipswich | 11 | 1 | 5 | 5 | -10 | 12:22 | 8 | |
18 | Crystal Palace | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | -7 | 8:15 | 7 | |
19 | Wolves | 11 | 1 | 3 | 7 | -11 | 16:27 | 6 | |
20 | Southampton | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | -14 | 7:21 | 4 | |
1 | Brentford | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18:11 | 16 | |
2 | Liverpool | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11:3 | 15 | |
3 | Manchester City | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12:6 | 13 | |
4 | Brighton | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11:8 | 12 | |
5 | Tottenham | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16:6 | 12 | |
6 | Arsenal | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12:6 | 11 | |
7 | Fulham | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9:7 | 10 | |
8 | Newcastle | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5:3 | 10 | |
9 | Bournemouth | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8:4 | 10 | |
10 | Manchester Utd | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7:8 | 10 | |
11 | Chelsea | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9:8 | 9 | |
12 | Nottingham | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7:6 | 8 | |
13 | Aston Villa | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7:6 | 8 | |
14 | West Ham | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8:10 | 7 | |
15 | Leicester | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5:7 | 5 | |
16 | Everton | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5:8 | 5 | |
17 | Crystal Palace | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3:7 | 5 | |
18 | Wolves | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 9:14 | 4 | |
19 | Southampton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4:8 | 4 | |
20 | Ipswich | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4:8 | 3 | |
1 | Liverpool | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10:3 | 13 | |
2 | Nottingham | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8:4 | 11 | |
3 | Manchester City | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10:7 | 10 | |
4 | Chelsea | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12:5 | 10 | |
5 | Aston Villa | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10:11 | 10 | |
6 | Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6:6 | 8 | |
7 | Fulham | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7:6 | 8 | |
8 | Newcastle | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8:8 | 8 | |
9 | Brighton | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8:7 | 7 | |
10 | Bournemouth | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7:11 | 5 | |
11 | Manchester Utd | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5:4 | 5 | |
12 | West Ham | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5:9 | 5 | |
13 | Leicester | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9:14 | 5 | |
14 | Everton | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5:9 | 5 | |
15 | Ipswich | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8:14 | 5 | |
16 | Tottenham | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7:7 | 4 | |
17 | Crystal Palace | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5:8 | 2 | |
18 | Wolves | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7:13 | 2 | |
19 | Brentford | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4:11 | 0 | |
20 | Southampton | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3:13 | 0 |
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