After narrowly missing out on Premier League promotion in the 2019/20 Championship play-off, Brentford made no mistake in their ensuing attempt and have taken the Premier League by storm!
The Bees ended both of those Championship campaigns as the division’s top scorers netting 80 goals in the 2019/20 and 79 goals in 2020/21 season respectively. Their promotion was secured after dispatching Swansea 2 nil at Wembley, confirming top-flight status for the first time in 74 years.
Brentford’s first-ever Premier League game ended in a 2-0 victory – in the opening fixture of the 2021/22 season. The London outfit got out of the blocks easily, with the club recording just a single defeat across their opening seven fixtures, leaving them two points off the top four. During that period, the Bees came from behind twice to earn a point in that six-goal thriller against Liverpool on home soil.
In many ways, that string of results set the tone for the season – Brentford aren’t here to take part, they’re here to win. The never say die attitude has seen the Bees establish themselves in the capital. A massive 33% of Brentford’s 46 Premier League points from the 2021/22 season came in London derbies (P10 P4 D3 L3), with only Chelsea (18) picking up more points in the division than the Bees (15). Furthermore, Thomas Frank’s side have conceded the fewest goals in Premier League London derbies than any other side (7) in that term.
Brentford secured safety with a 13-7-18 record come the end of the season. The club have built on that and put its best foot forward this time around. There appear to be no signs of second-season syndrome, considering the Bees have seen defeat just once at home in the league thus far. The G-Tech Community Stadium is steadily becoming a fortress. Only five top-flight clubs have netted more goals on home soil than Brentford have this season.
When asked about Brentford’s aim, having secured Premier League status for a consecutive season, Thomas Frank had this to say:
“The messaging for the players is more of the same. We need to build on our foundation, the defensive side of the game needs to be unbelievably aggressive and we should be able to still press high.
“The defensive side of the game is a big thing for us, we did that very well last season. In more or less all of the areas, we were top ten on that side of the game, so that’s a big part of why we performed well in the Premier League last season. The second part is set pieces, and it’s no secret that we focus on that. We also want to be a top team in terms of fitness and the boys are working very hard. I’m pleased to see that”.
The club is up against reigning Premier League champions Manchester City this weekend, before scheduled London derbies against Tottenham and West Ham respectively to round off the year after the World Cup.
