MY ACCOUNT
– Brentford have won three of their last four Premier League home games
– Fulham have lost both of their matches this season when Joao Palhinha was absent
– Recommended bet: Brentford to win
After correctly predicting Under 2.5 in the total goals market for one West London club this weekend, SImon Barlow assesses the best option for the other two in Monday night’s derby.
Fulham make the short journey to Brentford on Monday night for a Premier League clash between two unlikely clubs striving to make it into Europe.
The Cottagers sit in seventh place, which was good enough to qualify West Ham for Europa Conference League football last term but boss Marco Silva hedged his bets by selecting a strong side for their midweek FA Cup fifth-round win over Leeds.
Brentford entered the latest round of fixtures four points behind Fulham — but with two games in hand — and will be fresher than the visitors after a fortnight of inactivity.
Thomas Frank’s men have not lost a league game since the post-World Cup restart, racking up three consecutive home wins over Liverpool, Bournemouth and Southampton, before Crystal Palace grabbed a 1-1 draw at the Gtech Community Stadium in their last match.
Team news
Bees defender Pontus Jansson and midfielder Frank Onyeka are both now fit and available after hamstring issues, meaning Frank has a fully-fit squad to select from for Monday night’s West London derby.
The Dane made three predictable changes for the Palace game two weeks ago, recalling Aaron Hickey, Josh Dasilva and Yoane Wissa to his starting XI, to replace Kristoffer Ajer, Vitaly Janelt and Mads Roerslev.
Janelt came off the bench to grab the Bees’ 96th-minute leveller, so the German could be reinstated to the line-up on Monday.
Fulham must overcome the blow of losing midfield linchpin Joao Palhinha to a two-match Premier League suspension after he collected his 10th caution of the season in their 1-1 draw with Wolves last weekend.
Harrison Reed and new signing Sasa Lukic look set to be the two starters in midfield, while in-form winger Manor Solomon could be handed his first Premier League start.
The Israel international, who has scored four goals in his last four appearances, has been effective as an impact substitute so far and Silva may have second thoughts about losing that option.
At the back, Brend Leno, Kenny Tete and Issa Diop look likely to be restored to the Portuguese manager’s starting selection, in place of Marek Rodak, Cedric Soares and Tosin Adarabioyo.
The stats
Solomon has a ratio of two goals scored per 90 minutes in the Premier League, better than Erling Haaland’s 1.26 and only bettered by Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson (2.77).
Palhinha has won the most tackles in the Premier League this season (58), 14 more than the next most prolific tackler (Pascal Struijk with 44).
The Portuguese midfielder has missed only two matches all season for Fulham — a 4-1 Premier League home defeat to Newcastle and a 2-0 Carabao Cup loss to League Two outfit Crawley.
Fulham have had four players sent off against them in their last 12 Premier League games and six in total this season, three more than the team with the next most — Manchester City.
Prediction
The Bees’ home record makes tough opposition against anyone these days — but the circumstances around this game make Fulham even less appealing than they would have been, had they not been playing in midweek.
Brentford’s freshness could be a factor here, although sometimes a fortnight off can have an adverse effect on the team.
But the loss of Palhinha to suspension is probably a bigger issue, as the Premier League’s top tackler is arguably just as important as top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic has been to the Cottagers’ success this season.
Lukic has made a promising start to his Fulham career after arriving in January — but this will be a big test against a Bees side out to avenge the 3-2 defeat they suffered at Craven Cottage earlier this season.
The last time Brentford went into this fixture with revenge on their minds, two months after their Wembley play-off final loss, they handed Fulham a 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat.
