Once again commencing Premier League duties with a London derby, Brentford welcome local rivals Crystal Palace to the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
While Thomas Frank's side survived a slight relegation scare last season, the Eagles soared in the closing stages of the campaign but now begin life without one of their chief attacking threats.
Match preview
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A fourth successive campaign of Premier League football awaits the men in red and white, who established themselves as a solid mid-table unit during their first couple of campaigns, but it took a monumental effort for them to retain their top-flight status in 2023-24.
Hampered by Ivan Toney's betting ban in the first half of the season and devastating injuries to other attackers, the Bees wound up in 16th place last term and failed to breach the 40-point mark, although they still finished comfortably clear of 18th-placed Luton Town courtesy of a 13-point chasm.
Three wins from six to close out an otherwise forgettable campaign ensured that Brentford would keep the Premier League crest on their sleeves for 2024-25, although it was another summer of brushing aside speculation surrounding the future of Frank, linked with both Manchester United and Chelsea.
The Dane has since overseen a mixed warm-up period with Brentford, who only prevailed in two of their six pre-season friendlies - drawing another three and suffering one loss to Estrela da Amadora - although a 1-1 stalemate with Benfica and 2-1 win over a Wolfsburg XI were noteworthy results.
The Bees now consign pre-season to the past as they prepare for a third London derby in four opening Premier League weekends, and previous results in such fixtures - their famous beating of Arsenal in 2021 and draw with Tottenham Hotspur in 2023 - provide cause for optimism.
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Bringing Europa League-winning experience to a frustrated Selhurst Park, whose faithful had become disenchanted with the second Roy Hodgson reign, former Eintracht Frankfurt boss Oliver Glasner masterminded a meteoric revival which culminated in Palace matching two club records.
Sneaking into the top half in 10th spot and achieving a respectable 49 points, Palace equalled both their highest-ever Premier League finish and highest Premier League points total in 2023-24, and surpassing the half-century mark in the latter category this year is not beyond the realm of possibility.
Taking 19 points from the last 21 on offer in 2023-24, Palace posted many a sensational result in that sequence - 5-0 versus Aston Villa, 4-0 versus Manchester United and 1-0 against Liverpool are the standout ones - thanks in no small part to the terrific trio of Eberechi Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Michael Olise.
However, after managing to fend off the threat of Chelsea last summer, Palace were powerless to prevent Olise from jumping ship to Bayern Munich in a £50m deal, but Glasner has retained the services of Eze and Mateta and saw his side go unbeaten in five pre-season matches.
Including those non-competitive fixtures, Palace's unbeaten run stands at a striking 12 matches, and their 3-1 success over Brentford in December finally snapped the streak of stalemates between the two sides, who had shared the points in each of their first five Premier League meetings.
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Team News
![England's Ivan Toney pictured during the warm-up on June 25, 2024 [IMAGO]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/26/ivan-toney.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "England's Ivan Toney pictured during the warm-up on June 25, 2024 [IMAGO]")
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Hitherto tipped to be at the centre of a £100m transfer tussle involving Arsenal and Chelsea, Brentford talisman Toney remains at the Gtech Community Stadium and is set to lead the line in the absence of new signing Igor Thiago, who cruelly suffered a serious knee injury in pre-season.
The Brazilian attacker - a £30m purchase from Club Brugge - will spend months recovering, sharing the same fate as Josh Dasilva and Rico Henry, although there is an extremely slim chance that the latter will be good to go this weekend.
Aaron Hickey (thigh) completes Brentford's injured quartet as the Scotsman works his way back from some unfortunate complications, and should Toney fail to make the net bulge on Sunday, it will mark his 13th Premier League game on the spin without a goal. New signing Fabio Carvalho should aid him in his efforts, but he is unlikely to start this one.
While Toney has failed to fire in recent months, Mateta's 13 goals since Glasner took charge in late February is more than any other Premier League player, and the 27-year-old returns to Selhurst Park have scored five times en route to an Olympic silver with France this summer.
Mateta is now back in training with Palace and is pushing to start on Sunday, as are new signings Daichi Kamada and Ismaila Sarr, the former of whom struck the only goal in their 1-1 friendly draw with Nantes on August 11.
Chris Richards is expected to overcome a knock to make himself available, but Matheus Franca is still on the mend from a groin problem, benefitting Kamada's chances of a full Premier League debut in West London.
The Eagles have also been batting away multiple bids from Newcastle United for Marc Guehi, who should take up his usual position in Glasner's three-man defence.
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Pinnock, Ajer; Norgaard, Janelt, Jensen; Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Richards, Andersen, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Doucoure, Mitchell; Kamada, Eze; Mateta
We say: Brentford 1-3 Crystal Palace
One look at that Crystal Palace starting XI, and one would not put it past Glasner's men to make a charge for the European places in 2024-25, so long as their prized assets remain at the club after the transfer window slams shut.
Facing a Brentford side with a depleted defence and a misfiring striker in Toney, the Eagles should pick up where they left off at the end of last season with a dominant opening-day win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
