The second round of Premier League games will take place this weekend, and there are a number of standout fixtures.
While Manchester United’s visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening may be the pick of the bunch, there are also a few London derbies.
West Ham will welcome Chelsea to the London Stadium, Arsenal and Crystal Palace go to head-to-head on Monday night, and Fulham will take on Brentford at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides will be relatively pleased with how they got the new season underway. Fulham edged out Everton at Goodison Park thanks to a Bobby Decordova-Reid finish from close range whereas Brentford went toe-to-toe with a new-look Tottenham side, taking away a point from it, and arguably doing enough to get all three, truth.
Brentford will now go on the road for another clash with a fellow London team, meaning it won’t be a very long trip at all. The five-mile drive from one ground to the other would take just 20 minutes, and so there could well be some bite in this fixture, which will hopefully take place in the August sunshine.
Ahead of the game, Football FanCast takes a look at the history between the two teams.
Fulham vs Brentford: Who has the better head-to-head record?
These are two sides that have enjoyed the highs and lows of football – coming from the lower reaches of the Football League to where they are now, in the promised land.
It is difficult to split them when looking through history – and it was difficult to split them last year, with Brentford finishing ninth in the Premier League standings and Fulham on their coattails in tenth.
Fulham of yesteryear got a taste of European football, winning the Intertoto Cup in 2002 before making that infamous run to the Europa League final in 2009/10 under the stewardship of current Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson.
That being said, Brentford may not have as rich a history as their London rivals, but they have just about edged the upper hand in this fixture.
Fulham wins: 12 Draws: 8 Brentford wins: 14 Fulham vs Brentford: Who has more wins at Craven Cottage?
Turning attentions to how this fixture has played out on Fulham’s home patch, with the Whites playing the large majority of their games at Craven Cottage.
In the late 1800s, Fulham bounced around as many clubs did then before making Craven Cottage home in 1896, and the rest was history.
In terms of clashes with the Bees, common sense prevails with Fulham having got the better of Brentford when they’ve been at home, although interestingly, a large chunk of the draws between this duo have come in this area of west London.
Fulham wins: 6 Draws: 6 Brentford wins: 3 Fulham vs Brentford: Who has more wins at Griffin Park/Brentford Community Stadium?
A similar picture is painted when you make the short trip over to Brentford, with the Bees winning nearly three times as many games as Fulham when the latter are the visiting team.
Over the years, Brentford have also bounced around a number of stadiums before landing at Griffin Park in 1904.
As is the case with Craven Cottage, Griffin Park is perceived as a legendary ground, particularly in the EFL, which makes Brentford’s departure all the more upsetting.
As they enjoyed their upward trajectory that took them to the Premier League following their 2020/21 promotion campaign, they made the move to the Brentford Community Stadium that year, where they will no doubt look to continue their trend against top-flight sides such as Fulham.
Brentford wins: 11 Draws: 2 Fulham wins: 4 Fulham vs Brentford: Who has the better cup record?
These two sides have rarely met in cup competitions but when they have, the overall trend of results has been repeated.
Neither Fulham nor Brentford has gone all the way in either the FA Cup or League Cup, with a FA Cup runners-up medal for the Cottagers in 1975 – when they lost in the final to West Ham United – being the best they can offer.
Brentford have reigned victorious in four of the six League Cup meetings against Fulham, with one of the other clashes ending in a draw. In terms of the FA Cup, they have then met just twice and boast a win apiece there.
Fulham wins: 2 Draws: 1 Brentford wins: 5 Fulham vs Brentford: What were the last five meetings?
As previously mentioned, Brentford are a recent addition to the Premier League landscape, and Fulham themselves have been in and out of the second tier, so their last five fixtures date back to their respective stints in the Championship.
6th March 2023 – Brentford 3-2 Fulham: The Bees' latest triumph over their local rivals took place in front of a raucous home crowd at the Brentford Community Stadium.
A scrappy move from the hosts was finished off with a suitably deflected from Ethan Pinnock with just six minutes on the clock. The sides continued to go blow-for-blow, with goals at both ends until Mathias Jensen’s strike five minutes from time put the game to bed.
20th August 2022 – Fulham 3-2 Brentford: Going back to before Christmas, and 3-2 was again the scoreline in favour of the home team. Marco Silva’s men took advantage of the full 90 minutes, with goals coming at the very start and end of proceedings.
It was Bobby Decordova-Reid who eventually put the ball in the back of the net after a truly calamitous sequence of play in the first minute.
Aleksandar Mitrovic would then pop up at the death to sting the Bees in the tail, with his pinpoint header travelling into the bottom corner, out of the reach of David Raya.
1st October 2020 – Brentford 3-0 Fulham: This League Cup tie saw both managers put out weakened XIs with their minds on very different things.
Scott Parker had got Fulham promoted the season prior and was battling to avoid relegation back to the second tier – a mission that ultimately failed. Meanwhile, Thomas Frank was trying to get over the hump and get his first taste of Premier League management.
Said Benrahma was one of the few first-teamers to feature for Brentford, and he made it count. The current West Ham United winger netted a brace alongside a Marcus Forss finish to put Fulham to the sword and book his team a spot in the next round.
4th August 2020 – Brentford 1-2 Fulham (AET): The less said about this fixture the better as it will be covered in greater detail later. The clash in question is, of course, the play-off final from the 2019/20 campaign.
Both sides were regularly finishing in the upper reaches of the Championship table and Brentford, in particular, were struggling to get over the line, with the holy grail that is the Premier League left within touching distance for a team who had not reached the top flight since the 1940s.
20th June 2020 – Fulham 0-2 Brentford: This was the second of the two league meetings in the 2019/20 Championship season, which felt the major ramifications of the pandemic. Behind closed doors at Craven Cottage, Brentford took all three points thanks to a pair of late goals.
Benrahma notched in the 88th minute, before substitute Emiliano Marcondes (now of AFC Bournemouth) put the icing on the cake by adding a second in added time.
Who has played for both Fulham and Brentford?
A number of players have donned the colours of both Fulham and Brentford but the majority of them were from many years ago. Here are just a few of the names to have this honour bestowed upon them.
Gerry Peyton (Fulham 1977-1986; Brentford 1992-1993): Peyton was Arsenal’s longstanding goalkeeping coach from 2003 to 2018. He is also a legend amongst Fulham folk, having played for them just short of a decade.
Then, in the twilight of his career, Peyton had a brief spell with Brentford, furthering his journey around London as a former West Ham United and Chelsea man.
Barry Lloyd (Fulham 1968-1976; Brentford 1977-1978): Going back even further to Barry Lloyd, who also completed the west London treble.
He won promotion out of the Third Division with Fulham before also tasting promotion success some years later with Brentford.
Ryan Fredericks (Brentford 2012; Fulham 2015-2018): Currently on the books at AFC Bournemouth, Fredericks played in both the Championship and Premier League with Fulham.
His Brentford spell may well have been short-lived – a loan spell that saw him make just four league appearances in League One – but it exists all the same.
What is Fulham’s biggest victory over Brentford?
23rd August 1947 – Fulham 5-0 Brentford: Over three-quarters of a century ago, one of the two most convincing victories by Fulham in this fixture took place. The Cottagers won 5-0 in the first game of the 1947/48 season and repeated the feat five years later, asserting their dominance over their fellow Londoners.
Both clubs finished mid-table in the Second Division that season, with Fulham edging out four teams – including Brentford – on goal average to sneak an 11th-place finish.
What is Brentford’s biggest victory over Fulham?
3rd April 2015 – Fulham 1-4 Brentford: Stuart Dallas has been with Leeds United for nearly a decade, but prior to that, he plied his trade for Brentford.
The Northern Ireland international scored twice against Fulham in Brentford’s biggest win over the Cottagers, with Alan Judge and Jota also getting on the scoresheet.
Fulham vs Brentford: Key stats
This will be the 26th league meeting between the two clubs Both sides could be without their star strikers as Ivan Toney is suspended and Mitrovic’s future remains up in the air amidst rumours linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia Fulham and Brentford have not drawn any of their last 7 matches against each other Fulham vs Brentford: Classic meetings
4th August 2020 – Brentford 1-2 Fulham (Championship play-off final): There aren’t too many clashes between Fulham and Brentford, but the Championship play-off final at Wembley in August 2020 stands out.
An unlikely hero struck for the victors under the arch in the form of Joe Bryan. The full-back scored a brace in extra time after a goalless 90 minutes – the first being a genius free-kick from distance that caught out Brentford goalkeeper David Raya before sweeping home a second.