Another London derby happening this weekend in the Premier League is in West London between Brentford and Crystal Palace. It’s been a mixed bag for both Crystal Palace and Brentford in the beginning stages of this season, with both teams having at least one win on the board.
Brentford currently sit fourth in the Premier League with four points. Last season, The Bees had their best ever finish in the Premier League with their ninth place finish and look to improve on that this season.
The Bees hosted Tottenham in the first of three London derbies in the first three games. Cristian Romero opened the scoring for Spurs, but a Bryan Mbeumo penalty after Mathias Jenson was fouled by Son Heung-min brought Brentford level. Yoane Wissa gave Brentford the lead but a goal from Emerson Royal in added time of the first half put the two teams on equal footing going into halftime. The 2 - 2 scoreline remained for the rest of the game despite Tottenham dominating the possession.
Brentford’s most recent outing was a trip to fellow West London side Fulham. Wissa scored again to give The Bees the lead going into halftime, but Tim Ream’s red card gave Brentford a penalty and a player advantage. Mbeumo converted the penalty and then secured all three points with his second goal in extra time, giving Brentford the 3 - 0 win.
Crystal Palace sit 11th in the Premier League after two games with three points from the possible six. The Eagles finished in that exact position last season in a somewhat underwhelming campaign, but back under the management of Roy Hodgson, Palace may be able to aim higher this season.
The Eagles travelled to newly-promoted Sheffield United for their first game of the season. Palace had eight shots on target in comparison to Sheffield United’s mere one shot on target, and The Eagles managed to convert just one of those shots on target. Odsonne Edouard scored early in the second half to give Palace the 1 - 0 win and all three points.
Palace’s last game out was against Arsenal in the Monday Night Football. Despite Arsenal going down to ten men when Takehiro Tomiyasu was shown a second yellow for a foul on Jordan Ayew, Martin Odegaard converted the penalty that Sam Johnstone gave away against Eddie Nketiah to give The Gunners the 1 - 0 win.
Brentford and Crystal Palace have met 42 times in their histories with this fixture being closely contested. The two teams first met back in 1907 in the FA Cup, with Crystal Palace winning 17 times and Brentford winning 14 times. However, draws are also commonplace in the fixture, with 11 draws so far.
In fact, this weekend is likely to finish in a share of the points as the last four meetings between the two have ended in draws and two of those being goalless.