Correlation FC

Brentford at Fulham, preview

Brentford takes the short trip down the Thames to Fulham to take on their West London rivals. It's the second straight West London derby for the Bees, following last weekend's draw with Chelsea.

The matchup

One of the biggest match-ups of the season for many Bees fans, the two teams have both old and recent history. The teams played regularly in the Championship in the 2010s, with Fulham of course besting the Bees in the 2019-20 playoff final at Wembley. In the Premier League, Fulham has the slight underhand, having won 3, drawn 1 and lost 2. Brentford have only beaten Fulham 3 times at Craven Cottage in the past 11 years.

Recent form

Fulham started the season with a pair of draws. They won their most recent league game, against Leeds. The Bees have had a mixed bag of results, losing both of their away matches (Nottingham Forest and Sunderland) while taking points in both of their league home games (Aston Villa and Chelsea). The Bees also beat Villa again in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday. Fulham play their own cup fixture this coming Tuesday.

Next, we look at the Opta Power Rankings. This is a mathematical measure and ranking system for club teams around the world. Brentford enters the game with a higher Opta ranking than Fulham, even though Fulham are currently one point ahead in the "real" Premier League table.

Pre-game correlation

Welsh international, Harry Wilson, scored half of his 6 league goals for Fulham last year against Brentford, with all 3 goals coming as a second-half substitute.

Prediction #1

Fulham coach Marco Silva will attempt to recreate this magic by not starting Wilson, but bringing him on as a substitute.

Prediction #2

Reiss Nelson played for Fulham last year – in the Brentford/Fulham fixture at Craven Cottage, Nelson led all players with 8 shot-creating actions. His match fitness may prevent him from starting this game, but we expect he will come into the game as a substitute and have at least 1 shot-creating action.

Prediction #3

In last season's home fixture, Fulham had 43 crosses compared to only 6 from Brentford. Fulham led the league in crosses. Fulham will have more crosses than Brentford, but will have no more than double Brentford's total.

Prediction #4

Sepp van den Berg is the only Brentford player to play every competitive minute so far this season, starting and finishing every league and cup game so far. He'll play a full 90 minutes against Fulham.

Prediction #5

Brentford and Liverpool are the only teams to have scored in every game of the Premier League season so far. Brentford will score at least 1 goal against Fulham.