The new season may be upon us but there had been a sense of deja vu in west London until Yoane Wissa’s late winner sealed victory for Brentford against Crystal Palace for the first time in almost 50 years.
The past three editions of this fixture had all finished in a 1-1 draw and this match on Sunday had seemed destined to follow suit, after Ethan Pinnock’s own goal had cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo’s opener in the first half and Eberechi Eze’s free‑kick at 0-0 was bizarrely ruled out.
However, on an afternoon when Thomas Frank had taken the bold decision of leaving Ivan Toney out of his match-day squad as the England striker attempts to engineer a move away, it was Wissa – the club’s top scorer last season – who proved to be the match winner when he forced the ball home from close range 14 minutes from time.
Not since a League Cup tie in 1977 had Brentford beaten their London rivals, while you had to go back even further – to 7 September 1963 – for their last league win against Palace in the old Division Three.
Yet after a summer during which he has already lost Michael Olise to Bayern Munich as doubts grow over the future of Marc Guéhi, this under‑par performance was perhaps a sign that things will not be so easy for Oliver Glasner after his spectacular start to life in south London last season.
On a warm summer’s day down by the river, both managers opted for white polo shirts and trainers and were lively presences in their technical areas during a competitive first half. It took less than a minute for Guéhi – captaining Palace despite Newcastle having had multiple bids rejected for the England defender – being forced to clear Kevin Schade’s dangerous cross away for a corner.
Frank said last week that his main wish for the new campaign is to have “the fewest injuries in the league” after only two players in his squad managed to make more than 30 league starts last season. But things have not got off to the best start after the club‑record signing, Igor Thiago – the man who is expected to fill Toney’s boots if he does depart – was ruled out until the end of the year with a knee injury, with the Brazilian watching from the stands.
Palace, who had Jean-Philippe Mateta leading the line only nine days after he lost the Olympic Games final with France, should have taken the lead when Tyrick Mitchell dragged his volley badly wide after a cross from Daniel Muñoz fell to him at the back post.
The new signing Daichi Kamada then forced the Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken into a mistake that led to Wissa being booked for bringing down Eze, with the England forward firing the resulting free‑kick inches wide.
Eze had the ball in the net with another free‑kick that caught Flekken napping at his near post but it was disallowed by the referee Samuel Barrott after he felt that Will Hughes had fouled Nathan Collins as they waited for the kick to be taken and blew his whistle before the ball had crossed the line.
“I was told [by the referee] that he blew too early and made the mistake,” Eze said. “It could have changed the game but we have to deal with it. It wasn’t our only chance.”
Glasner was also not impressed and his mood was not improved a minute later when Brentford took the lead. Mitchell was caught upfield by a quick break and Wissa’s clever flick allowed Mbeumo to glide into the area and curl past Dean Henderson without being challenged by Guéhi. It then needed a brilliant reaction save from Henderson to deny Kristoffer Ajer from a corner.
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Odsonne Édouard was brought on to replace Mateta for the second half but Brentford again came close to doubling their lead when Collins just failed to get a touch on to Pinnock’s flick-on. Pinnock knew less about the deflection that came off him to divert Adam Wharton’s shot just wide after it had initially struck Mads Roerslev. But his luck finally ran out when Mitchell’s deep cross was headed back across goal by Muñoz and Pinnock watched in horror as he turned it into his own net under pressure from Édouard.
The Frenchman was guilty of making his run too early when played in by Eze shortly afterwards, with the assistant’s flag muting the celebrations of the Palace fans who thought they had taken the lead. Increasingly influential in midfield he was surprisingly substituted just before Wissa’s winner, with Wharton’s effort from distance parried away by Flekken as the visitors smelled blood.
The DR Congo forward made the most of his opportunity after Henderson had saved a deflected shot from Collins, with Flekken pulling off a brilliant save to deny Eze late on and ensure that Frank went home happier than his Palace counterpart.
