Brentfordvs.Bournemouth

The Bees were stung by West London rivals Fulham in a manic Monday night battle last time out, while Andoni Iraola's men defied the odds to dent Manchester City's title aspirations.

Match preview

A Welsh wizard by the name of Harry Wilson produced two moments of magic on Monday evening, where Brentford rocked up to Fulham's Craven Cottage home and initially looked set to leave with all three points courtesy of Vitaly Janelt's thunderous strike.

Thomas Frank's men entered second-half injury time with their one-goal lead intact, only for Wilson to firstly loop an audacious improvised finish over the head of Mark Flekken, before heading home Antonee Robinson's delicate cross with no fewer than 97 minutes on the board.

Fulham's delirium was Brentford's dejection in the West London derby, as the Bees dropped even more points from a winning position and saw their horrendous away record for 2024-25 extend to five losses from five Premier League games on the road, a fate only Southampton share.

However, Brentford's marvellous sequence of home results has Frank's side comfortably in mid-table obscurity in 12th place, having accrued 13 points from a possible 15 at the Gtech Community Stadium this term, the joint-best record in the league with Manchester City.

Furthermore, no team can better the 15 goals that the hosts have scored on home soil in the current top-flight campaign, although they are yet to keep a single Premier League clean sheet in 2024-25 and have now let an unrivalled 14 points slip from winning positions this season.

Sharing Brentford's taste for home victories in the Premier League campaign, Bournemouth astonishingly added Manchester City to their list of Vitality Stadium scalps in gameweek 10, just a couple of weeks on from putting Arsenal to the sword on the South Coast.

Capitalising on the champions' devastating fitness woes, Iraola's forward-thinking troops found themselves two goals to the good courtesy of Antoine Semenyo's silky turn and finish and Evanilson's toe-poke on the stretch, before a wonderful Josko Gvardiol header cut the deficit in half.

Pep Guardiola's men huffed and puffed for the all-important leveller, but when Erling Haaland added to his catalogue of missed sitters towards the end, it was clear that it was going to be Bournemouth's day as they stretched their unbeaten Premier League run to three games.

The Cherries' astounding autumnal exploits has allowed them to cement 10th place in the standings - two points and two spots better off than Brentford - but an unsightly tally of one win from seven Premier League away games may dampen spirits slightly before the trip north.

Bournemouth's head-to-head record versus Brentford makes for grim reading for the Cherries faithful too, as their side have not beaten the Bees in a league game since the 2014-15 Championship season, and their last away league win against Saturday's hosts came all the way back in 2005.

Brentford Premier League form:

L

D

W

L

W

L

Brentford form (all competitions):

D

W

L

W

W

L

Bournemouth Premier League form:

L

W

L

W

D

W

Team News

Brentford boss Frank was upbeat about Kristoffer Ajer's chances of being back from a foot injury in time to face Fulham, but the towering defender was unavailable once again and will therefore need a once-over before Saturday's fixture.

There is a slim chance that Rico Henry could make his long-awaited comeback from a severe knee injury this weekend, but he will certainly not start the contest, while Igor Thiago (knee), Josh Dasilva (knee), Aaron Hickey (thigh) and Gustavo Nunes (back) are still missing.

Neither Yoane Wissa nor Bryan Mbeumo made their presence felt at Craven Cottage, but home is where the heart is for the attacking duo; Wissa has scored in his last four league games at the Gtech Community Stadium, while his Cameroonian counterpart has done so in five straight top-flight home matches.

As for Bournemouth, luckless midfielder Alex Scott is a definite absentee as he works his way back from knee surgery, while Kepa Arrizabalaga (groin), Dango Ouattara (unspecified) and Luis Sinisterra (unspecified) are all on the touch-and-go list.

Only Kepa should have a chance of coming back into the first XI if passed fit - and even then Mark Travers will not cede the gloves easily - as Iraola has no reason to alter the winning formula from the beating of City.

However, midfield fulcrum Ryan Christie is walking a tightrope, as he picked up his fourth yellow card of the season against City and will incur a one-match ban if he is cautioned here too.

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Flekken; Van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock, Ajer; Damsgaard, Norgaard, Janelt; Mbeumo, Wissa, Lewis-Potter

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Travers; Smith, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez; Christie, Cook; Semenyo, Kluivert, Tavernier; Evanilson

We say: Brentford 2-2 Bournemouth

Goals galore at the Gtech Community Stadium has been the theme of the 2024-25 season for Brentford, who are seldom outfought on their own patch and make nets ripple for fun in West London.

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