Fulham meet Brentford at Craven Cottage in a mouthwatering West London derby.
Victory could see Fulham go top for a minimum of a few hours depending upon if they can better’s Brighton result at Wolves, whilst Brentford can leapfrog their neighbours with a win and possibly go top if Brighton lose elsewhere.
Team News
Fulham will be without striker, Aleksandr Mitrovic after he suffered an ankle injury during their win at Everton last weekend.
Joao Palhinha is still sidelined due to a shoulder injury.
Brentford could welcome Ben Mee back into contention after he missed their 2-2 draw against Tottenham with a calf injury.
Mathias Jensen (quad) and Frank Onyeka (thigh) could also feature whilst Ivan Toney (suspension) remains absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Fulham host Brentford at Craven Cottage in a 3pm BST kick-off on Saturday 19 August, untelevised in UK.
Stat Attack
- Fulham won one of two previous Premier League meetings against Brentford (W1, L1).
- Brentford lost their only previous Premier League visit to Fulham by 3-2 result in August 2022 (L1).
- Each of the two previous Premier League meetings between Fulham and Brentford ended in 3-2 result, with the home team winning on each occasion.
- Fulham have kept just one clean sheet in their last 14 league games (W4, D2, L8).
- Brentford have kept just one clean sheet in their last six away matches (W2, D1, L3).
- Marco Silva’s Cottagers won two of six London derbies at home last season (W2, D1, L3).
- Thomas Frank’s Bees avoided defeat in five of six London derbies away from home in the top-flight last season (W3, D2, L1), with their only defeat coming at Fulham in a 3-2 loss last August.
Prediction
Although last weekend’s winning performance was hardly vintage by any stretch, Fulham can be happy with how they clinically executed their game plan against a high-intensity Everton attack with solid defending and goalkeeping amidst some inaccurate finishing to their attacks.
Brentford meanwhile continue to look a solid team with their attacking play having frustrated Tottenham to fight back to lead, although their second-half end product was wasteful on top of scrappy defending which twice allowed Spurs to score in an entertaining game.
We also can’t ignore that both meetings last season plus in their pre-season friendly last month were five-goal thrillers, so I do expect another cracking contest but Brentford should have enough in them for the win if play like they did last week but defensively better.
Prediction: Fulham 1-2 Brentford
Result: Fulham 0-3 Brentford
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