London rivals Brentford and Crystal Palace do battle at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday as the third weekend of Premier League action continues.
Brentford remain unbeaten after taking four points from a possible six, while Palace find themselves on three points following a win and a draw.
🎯 @bmbeumo19 from 12 yards pic.twitter.com/pxuncNSBNL— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) August 19, 2023
🎯 @bmbeumo19 from 12 yards pic.twitter.com/pxuncNSBNL
History suggests that Saturday’s clash will be a low-scoring stalemate, although both sides will be eager to claim all three points and secure the bragging rights.
Brentford kicked off their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, despite seeing just 30% possession on home soil.
Last weekend, the Bees claimed an impressive 3-0 victory at Fulham, with Yoane Wissa opening the scoring and Bryan Mbeumo bagging a brace.
Mbeumo has already scored three goals in two Premier League outings this term, while Wissa has also scored in both games.
Having lost just one of their previous 16 home league games, Thomas Frank’s side will be confident of avoiding defeat this weekend.
As for Crystal Palace, they started the season with a 1-0 victory at Sheffield United, although they could – and probably should – have registered a bigger win.
Indeed, the Eagles racked up 68% possession and 24 shots on the opening weekend, with Odsonne Edouard scoring the only goal of the game.
Roy Hodgson’s men put in a brave performance against Arsenal last time out, but they were unable to prevent the Gunners from snatching a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park.
Palace have lost just three of their 12 matches since Hodgson’s return, so they will fancy their chances of getting something from Saturday’s showdown.
Head-to-head: Since Brentford’s return to the Premier League in 2021, they have played out four draws with Crystal Palace.
Following two goalless stalemates during the 2021-22 campaign, the Bees and the Eagles served up a couple of 1-1 draws last season.
Team news: Of course, Brentford striker Ivan Toney remains sidelined until January due to a ban. Joshua Dasilva is also absent due to injury, while Ben Mee is a doubt.
On the flip side, Crystal Palace will be without the injured trio of Michael Olise, Will Hughes and Matheus Franca this weekend.
If the previous Premier League meetings between Brentford and Palace are anything to go by, the two sides will likely play out a low-scoring draw on Saturday.
With that in mind, Forebet predicts that Brentford and Crystal Palace will share the spoils, with both teams scoring under 1.5 goals.