Fulham vs Brentford is one of three London derbies on matchday 2 of the 2023/24 Premier League season. It is the first West London Derby of the season.
Fulham vs Brentford has not given us a lot of historical matches from times past because Brentford was a struggler in the bottom tiers of English football for a large part of the 20th century.
Fulham, meanwhile, has bounced back and forth between top-flight football and lower-tier football in England and in that time, racked up 62 games with the Bees.
The Cottagers got the shorter end of the stick in those matches, however, winning 22 ties and losing 23 others, while settling for a draw on 17 occasions.
In the two Premier League fixtures they have played – both of which happened in the 2022/23 season – Fulham and Brentford each have one win. That took their tallies to 23 wins and 24 wins respectively.
Fulham will be going into this match having taken three points from Everton at Goodison Park on matchday 1. Brentford, on the other hand, will be hoping to play better on the road after letting Tottenham Hotspur find a way to secure a draw at their Community Stadium on matchday 1, leaving them with one point.
It will be a keenly contested London Derby for both sides and both managers are fully aware of this.
Marco Silva, manager of Fulham, was not too impressed with his team’s performance in their match against Everton. “That was not a good performance from ourselves at all,” Silva said in his post-match press conference.
“I think overall during the game, we didn’t perform at our level.”
As the Brentford trip beckons, he will make sure to take the week to work on all the loopholes so that the Bees do not increase their lead.
Thomas Frank, on the other hand, shared mixed feelings after the draw with North London team Spurs.
“I think we started so well, so aggressive. Like when did they score after 7 or 8 minutes or whatever, 10 minutes, I think the first 10 was really good,” Frank said.
“And then there was the collision between Bryan [Mbeumo] and [Cristian] Romero, and then a little bit and they scored on the free kick, where we need to do a tiny bit better.”
Frank vs Silva promises to be entertaining for all involved on matchday 2.
Match Tickets
Craven Cottage is the venue where the first West London Derby of the season will take place.
The home of Fulham is billed to be packed full of fans as they welcome Brentford. Fulham vs Brentford tickets are already up on sale on the websites of each team but ticket resellers will also be required to provide services for fans who are unable to get the tickets from their club’s website.
Even more neutrals who wish to follow the game will also be getting their tickets from the ticket reselling platforms. This is because of the waiting list that is certain to be built up by the time fans of both clubs and lucky neutrals get to ticket shopping on the websites of both teams.
Fulham tickets will sell out because fans of the club want to see Adama Traoré in action.
The Barcelona La Masia graduate left Wolverhampton Wanderers after last season as a free agent and joined the Cottagers days ago. He is in line to make his debut against Brentford.
The match will take place on Saturday 19 August at 3 PM and it will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and other Premier League broadcast partners across the globe.
Team news
The acquisition of Traoré is the biggest team news from Fulham.
With the inclusion of the Spaniard, the Cottagers now have a 27-man squad ahead of the Brentford game. He joins Calvin Bassey and former Wolves teammates Raul Jimenez at Craven Cottage.
The Cottagers are not in the news for any significant transfer business and manager Marco Silva has expressed his frustrations at it. However, they could see some action before their Brentford trip meaning that the current squad they have is who Silva will work with as they welcome their West London rivals.
The Bees, on the other hand, have not added another player since Nathan Collins, Mark Flekken, and Kevin Schade. They are also close to losing Spaniard Sergi Canós as La Liga clubs Valencia and Alaves are in a bidding war for the player.
It will interest you to know that though Ivan Toney is not in the Brentford squad until January for gambling-related offenses, the player may also leave the club this summer.
Spurs are looking for a Harry Kane replacement and Toney has been identified. In the meantime, Yoanne Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo will continue to carry the Bees’s attack for the foreseeable future.
There are no injury concerns for Fulham and Brentford could have Ben Mee return to the side after sitting out the opening game thanks to a minor knock he picked up in training.
Lineups
Fulham are unlikely to slot Traoré straight into the starting lineup but the home fans are going to see what they bought tickets for in order to assess the player’s fit with the team.
Raul Jimenez started ahead of Aleksandar Mitrovic against Spurs but he was subbed off for the Cottagers’ trusted striker. The Serbian is likely going to reclaim his starting berth as Silva prepares his tactics for Brentford.
Versatile defender Calvin Bassey could also get his Premier League debut for Fulham after joining from AFC Ajax in July. Veteran German Bernd Leno, who was the man of the match against Spurs, will keep his starting berth in goal.
Fans and neutrals can largely expect the same team that played against Spurs to take on Brentford. The difference could be in the formation that Silva deploys against Frank’s team.
Fulham: Leno; Robinson, Ream, Diop, Tete; Cairney, Lukic, Reed, Willian, Mitrovic, Traoré.
With the absence of Toney, Wissa, and Mbeumo will continue leading Brentford’s attack.
Thomas Frank set his team in a 5-3-2 formation against Tottenham to deal with the loss of Toney; a move he will likely repeat for the larger part of this season including against Fulham. The midfield and the defense will be the most tweaked.
This Saturday, we may see the return of Thomas Strakosha in goal and Mee in defense for the Bees. Josh DaSilva did not make an appearance against Spurs so he is likely to get a run against Fulham. He may not start the game, however, as he can be a great impact sub.
Brentford: Strakosha; Hickey, Mee, Pinnock, Ajer, Henry; Jensen, Nørgaard, Janelt; Wissa, Mbeumo.
Prediction
Fulham vs Brentford has been entertaining for both sets of fans and after their showing in the Premier League last time around, they have captured the attention of more neutrals.
Both teams won 3-2 at home against each other last season, which points to an all out attacking style of football.
Silva and Frank are likely going to repeat the same tactics that saw them take home wins against each other last season. The chances and the goals will come from these tactics.
It is hard to see a winner in this tie but after their opening day results, we predict that Fulham will have a harder time scoring goals. This means Brentford have the upper hand to take all three points from their visitors on 19 August 2023.
Fulham 1-2 Brentford.
