Brentford travel to Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon for what is an intriguing match-up. Nick Bruzon previews.
The Eagles are on an impressive run. Unbeaten in the last five league games is a sequence which includes three wins. Chuck in FA Cup progression against Stockport County and one can only expect that that confidence will be high at Selhurst Park.
Brentford, meanwhile, have only picked up one victory since thumping Newcastle United on 7th December. That being everybody’s obligatory defeat of Southampton. With the FA Cup potato skin having been well and truly skidded on at home to Championship whipping boys Plymouth, there couldn’t be a starker contrast in current form between the two clubs.
At least, on paper.
The cup aside, those reverses have been at the hands of Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Liverpool i.e. the top four in the Premier League. It has been a brutal series of fixtures although Thomas Frank’s team have more than held their own for huge swathes of those games.
Last time out against Liverpool was particularly frustrating, in hindsight. The Bees with a quite wonderful chance to take an early lead and then trading pressure with the Reds for the entire game. Whilst Arne Slot’s team had, apparently, a quite staggering total of 37 shots it wasn’t until time added on that they finally broke the deadlock.
Resolute Brentford hearts broken after going toe to toe with what Thomas Frank afterwards told the press was, “A really good game against the best team in the world right now”.
He’s not wrong, either. Brentford remain devastatingly fast when pushing forward. At their best when on the front foot and playing the sort of free-flowing pass and move that has had supporters on the edge of their seats so often this campaign.
Key to this has been Mikkel Damsgaard. Very much player of the season to date, fans will have been thrilled to hear he signed a new contract this week. A man transformed after a sluggish start to life at the Gtech, his laser-guided balls out to Bryan Mbeumo on the right are the stuff of dreams. With KLP and the seemingly outbound Mads Roerslev overlapping on the flanks, Brentford continue to attack with abandon.
How they break down a well-organised team remains a challenge. The games with Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in particular showing just how few clear-cut opportunities can be created if the opposition are organised, disciplined and unceasingly remorseless in their own half.
Chances still came in those but if there is one lesson Brentford will have learned is that of really taking them when they come. It’s an old cliché but so very true and with Palace playing a 3-4-2-1 line up, we can expect more of the same challenge if their formation holds.
Then again, when the Bees do hit form they are devastating. Southampton should have ended it on the wrong end of, at least, a 7(seven)-0 bracketing rather than ‘just’ the five, whilst Brentford were equally impressive against Newcastle.
Mbeumo (6th) and Yoanne Wissa (7th) continue to hang on to the coattails of those leading the race for the Premier League golden boat. Alexander Isak is only two ahead in third position and so there really is extra incentive beyond three points to really go for it on Sunday.
Then again, they aren’t alone. Since Oliver-Glasner took over as Palace manager 11 months ago, Jean-Philippe Mateta has been on fire up top. His record of 21 goals in 35 games has been surpassed by only three players whilst his conversion rate is just shy of 30%. Statistically speaking, only Chris Wood is deadlier.
We do love the numbers game at Brentford and so keeping him quiet will be key to any chance of victory. Moreso given The Bee’s record against Palace since reaching the Premier League. A first win was only achieved at the start of this season following half a dozen unyielding encounters against The Eagles.
With that monkey finally off the back, can The Bees push on for the double or will it be back to business as usual? Roll on Sunday afternoon when we find out.
