Crystal Palace vs Brentford FC, Premier League 2022-2023, Today Match Prediction

Crystal Palace vs Brentford FC Match Prediction & Analysis

Crystal Palace had their fans over the moon at one point during their clash against Manchester City. The Eagles were 2-0 up and in dreamland against the champions, before the inevitable happened.

City, as great champions often do, fought back in the second half due to a brilliant hattrick from Erling Haaland, who continues to set the footballing world alight.

Palace have lost against both top two teams, including Arsenal, which shows that they have been unlucky to face them both so early on in the season. They’ve shown plenty of quality as well.

Brentford continue to impress for such a small club. They fought back to secure a point against Everton at the weekend, meaning they have only lost one of their four games so far.

Their away form, generally speaking, isn’t as strong as when they’re at home and they could struggle against the direct pace of Palace.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Crystal Palace Preview

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Played brilliantly to go 2-0 up against City

     Front three look as threatening as ever

Reasons to be fearful:

     Eight goals conceding from four games shows leaky defence

     Failed to score against Brentford in both games last season

Crystal Palace, and their manager Patrick Vieira, can consider themselves somewhat unlucky to have faced both Arsenal and Manchester City so early on in the season.

Those two sides currently sit top of the Premier League and will take some stopping. 

Regardless, Palace have played well in all four of their fixtures so far, with their forward players particularly impressive.

They also played Liverpool, making it three very difficult games out of the first four, although they claimed a battling point at Anfield in impressive fashion.

The Eagles’ other game, against Aston Villa, is possibly a better test of Vieira’s team right now. They dispatched Steven Gerrard’s side 3-1, showing off their attacking talents and goalscoring abilities.

Now they face Brentford, another midtable side, and one they will be favourites to beat, especially at home. A win could take them as high as 6th in the league, which should be motivation enough.

Star Man – Eberechi Eze

With Zaha injured against Manchester City, Eze took the game to their opponents and ran them ragged at times. He came away with an assist and was Palace’s best player.

Brentford FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful

     Continue to play brilliantly under Thomas Frank

     Showed fighting spirit to earn draw against Everton

Reasons to be fearful

     Defence could struggle against fluid attack of Palace

     Small squad could find it difficult to play twice a week

Brentford currently occupy 9th place, which would represent an upgrade over last season should they finish there at the end of this campaign.

They will face stiff competition of course, not least from Crystal Palace themselves.

As this is such a busy schedule, due to the FIFA World Cup taking place in the English winter rather than the summer, teams will have to play twice per week, especially if they are also involved in the Carabao Cup.

With Brentford being one of the smaller clubs in the division naturally means that their squad may struggle to cope with such a fast flurry of games.

Away from home, they can’t call upon their excellent home support either, something which often propels them to results against the bigger teams.

It’ll be tough for them here, but a positive result wouldn’t be a surprise.

Star Man – Ivan Toney

The big forward will be key against Palace, where he’ll need to hold the ball up and bring his fellow attackers into the game. Palace have conceded plenty of goals so far, so he’ll always get chances.