Premier League: Fulham Can Climb All Over the Bees

Fulham vs Brentford

The third West London derby of the new English season is on the agenda on Saturday night when Premier League: Fulham vs Brentford kicks off on the banks of the River Thames. 

Craven Cottage will be packed to the rafters for the visitors of neighbours Brentford. After four games the two teams sit 11^th and 12^th in the Premier League table on five and four points. It’s a good weekend for derbies with the Merseyside meeting of Liverpool and Everton taking the limelight in the north, while West Ham United host Crystal Palace in another all-London clash. 

But this game is another meeting of West End boys as both Fulham and Brentford have already faced the Kings Road giants of Chelsea. Marco Silva’s Cottagers were beaten 2-0 by the Blues two weeks ago and were the victims of a serious VAR error, but they recovered to beat Leeds United last week. Meanwhile, Keith Andrews’ Bees fought back with a late equaliser to earn a 2-2 draw with Chelsea last week. 

At the start of the campaign, I backed Fulham to finish mid-table and Brentford to be embroiled in a relegation battle, and I’ve seen nothing so far to change my mind. The pre-match Fulham vs Brentford betting odds back a home win and that would reinforce my thinking, so let’s take a look at where the two teams are, before they meet under the floodlights on Saturday night.     

 

Talking Points

New boy Kevin is a bright spark  

Fulham’s clash with Leeds was a chance to pick up early season points but it took until the 94^th minute before the Cottagers snatched the win thanks to a Gabriel Gudmundsson own goal. It had been a lacklustre performance from Silva’s men, but a 76th-minute substitution changed the game. Club record signing Kevin came on for Alex Iwobi and the former Shakhtar Donetsk man had an immediate impact. Against a stubborn Leeds side Fulham had only registered two shots when the 22 year old Brazilian crossed the white line and Kevin injected some much-needed life to the Fulham attack. With three shots on target by the final whistle, they did just enough to force a goal. 

It was a first win for Fulham, but they started the campaign with draws against Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester United, and then suffered a bad deal against Chelsea. This SBOTOP writer has made no secret of his dislike for VAR, not the system but the application, and the Cottagers’ loss to Chelsea was a stark example of all that is wrong with it. Fulham youngster Josh King slotted home what he thought was a 21st-minute opener, but VAR instructed the referee to look at a collision earlier in the build-up. Fulham star Rodrigo Muniz had slight contact with Trevoh Chalobah and referee Rob Jones cancelled the goal.  

Was Big Six bias at play? I couldn’t possibly comment, but Silva said a complaint would be sent to the PGMOL. 

With that upset out of the way the Cottagers scrapped out a win against Leeds and now the mood is there to kick on, with another three points up for grabs. 

 

Schade shines for the Bees 

It’s been a good week for Brentford who earned an unexpected point against Chelsea last week and then followed that up with a penalty shootout victory over Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup in midweek. The draw with Chelsea was a fourth precious point of the campaign and it owed much to the opening goal and all-around play of German forward Kevin Schade. After the Bees suffered a difficult summer, losing manager Thomas Frank and strikers Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa, the 23-year-old has stepped up and his energy and pace have made him the focal point of Brentford’s attacking play. 

That does mean, of course, that the Premier League’s bigger clubs will be watching his progress and the Bees will be bracing themselves for an approach in January. But in the meantime, Schade will be a key man in Brentford’s quest for regular points.    

 

History

The head-to-head Fulham vs Brentford results were levelled up last season as, when the two teams met in May, the Cottagers fought back to win 3-2 at the Gtech Stadium, but the win wasn’t quite enough to bring European football back to Fulham. It did lift Fulham up to 25 wins in this fixture over the 68 previous meetings, level with the Bees, while there have been 18 draws.   

And in terms of recent form there is nothing to choose between the two teams who have each won two, drawn two and lost two of their last six games. 

 

Betting Tip

With the draw at odds of 3.42 and a Brentford win at 3.75 this is not a done deal but, while Fulham have been a little unlucky to be sitting on five points so far, I believe the Bees have done better than they feared.    

For a correct score line a 1-0 home win is priced at 6.95 with 2-0 at 8.45 and I am confident of a comfortable Cottagers win.

   

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