Brentford host Fulham in London Derby

Brentford will look to leapfrog London rivals Fulham ahead of their clash at Griffin Park.

The Bees currently sit in seventh place with 33 points and their opponents on Saturday sit in third place with 35 points. Brentford have been somewhat the surprise package so far this season and could be as high as third place come Saturday evening.

They bounced back from last week’s disappointing loss to Sheffield Wednesday  with a 2-1 win against Cardiff on Wednesday night. Bryan Mbeumo continued his impressive form as he found the net for the third game running.

Fulham will be looking to bounce back from back-to-back defeats. The whites’ promotion push was hindered last week as they fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Bristol City and that was followed up by another loss on Tuesday, this time to Preston.

Team news

Brentford will be without: Joel Valencia, Josh Clarke, Sergi Canos, and Nikos Karelis.

For Fulham, Denis Odoi begins a three-match ban after his sending-off in the midweek defeat at Preston.

Steven Sessegnon and Tom Cairney are back in training after illness, while Harry Arter, Bobby Decordova-Reid and Harrison Reed will all be assessed.

Thomas Frank explains how Brentford are following the All Blacks’ lead in promotion bid:

“I think if you can be more measured, control emotions, then you can better deliver the message. That’s important before the game but, at half time, sometimes you need to change things tactically.

“If it’s been a disastrous performance, then of course you need to raise your voice. But you can’t do that every single Saturday.

“If you do it every Saturday then it will lose its weight, it will not have the same impact and that’s why I think if you can be calm, talk about things like second balls, pressing and so on.”

Fulham head coach Scott Parker realises the magnitude of the game:

“For us it’s a massive game because, first and foremost, it’s a London derby, one which often brings up a big atmosphere.

“The added ingredient of the geography is that fans on a Monday morning will go into work and often have mates supporting QPR or Brentford, so there’s that added to it as well.

“Brentford are doing really well so it’s going to be a tough game, no doubt, but one which we’ll be prepared for and try to get a positive result out of.”

Head-to-head

Brentford wins: 20 

Draws: 17

Fulham wins: 21