Preview: Fulham vs Brentford - prediction, team news, lineups

Craven Cottage will stage a West London derby between Fulham and Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday night.

Four months have passed since these two teams last butted heads in a five-goal thriller at the Gtech Community Stadium where the Cottagers claimed a 3-2 win over the Bees.

Match preview

After failing to win any of their opening three Premier League matches, Fulham picked up all three points in fortunate circumstances at the expense of newly-promoted Leeds United last weekend.

The Cottagers were on course to share the spoils in largely drab encounter with the Whites at Craven Cottage until Gabriel Gudmundsson inadvertently directed an attempted headed clearance into the far corner of his own net to gift Marco Silva's men a much-needed 1-0 home victory.

Silva acknowledged that his Fulham side were “a little bit fortunate” to come out on top at the death via an own goal, but he was pleased with his player’s efforts to ‘push hard’ for a winner in the second half. The Portuguese has also urged his team to ‘create the habit’ of keeping clean sheets after registering their first of the season against Leeds.

Fulham are in fact one of just two teams - along with Arsenal - who are yet to concede from open play in the Premier League this season, with their four goals conceded thus far coming from either corners (two) or penalties (two). Meanwhile, two of their three goals scored this term have come from set pieces.

Seeking to climb from their current position of 11th in the table, Fulham completed a Premier League double over Brentford last season and they will attempt to win three league matches in a row against the Bees this weekend for just the second time, after winning their first three encounters from 1928 to 1929.

Keith Andrews has experienced a mixed start to life as Brentford boss, but many will argue that the Bees have performed better than expected considering the significant changes made to the first-team squad over the summer.

Brentford have lost both away matches in the Premier League this season, but they have collected four points from their opening two fixtures on home soil, with Fabio Carvalho netting a 93rd-minute equaliser to snatch a point in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea last weekend, having previously beaten Aston Villa 1-0 at the end of August.

The Bees celebrated another home victory against Villa on Tuesday, this time in the third round of the EFL Cup as they claimed a 4-2 penalty-shootout victory following a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes, a result that confirmed to Andrews that his players are "growing as a group".

Brentford are now preparing for Saturday’s trip to Craven Cottage where they have lost two of their three Premier League visits (W1), more than their previous 15 league trips to Fulham beforehand (W6 D8 L1), while they are now in danger of suffering back-to-back away league defeats to the Cottagers for the first time since January 1954 (four in a row).

However, Brentford will take comfort from the fact that Fulham have lost five of their last seven London derbies in the Premier League (W2), having previously enjoyed a 10-match unbeaten run against capital-based clubs.

Fulham Premier League form:

D D L W

Fulham form (all competitions):

D D W L W

Brentford Premier League form:

L W L D

Brentford form (all competitions):

L W W L D W

Team News

Fulham are set to have a clean bill of health heading into this weekend’s contest. Alex Iwobi is one player who has been nursing a knock, but the attacker has trained this week and should be fit to start.

However, his place could come under threat by club-record signing Kevin, who made a notable impression as a substitute last time out and is in contention to make his full Premier League debut on either flank at the expense of either Iwobi or Harry Wilson.

Rodrigo Muniz has failed to score in his last three starts for Fulham, so Silva might be tempted to recall Raul Jimenez to lead the line, while Antonee Robinson - who watched on as an unused substitute last weekend - will continue to compete with Ryan Sessegnon for a start at left-back.

As for Brentford, Jordan Henderson, Ethan Pinnock and Igor Thiago all missed the EFL Cup win over Aston Villa, but Andrews has confirmed that they were merely rested and the trio have since been part of a training group on Tuesday.

All three players are available for selection this weekend along with Kristoffer Ajer, who has avoided injury after he was taken off against Villa as a precaution due to a knee collision.

Gustavo Nunes and Paris Maghoma remain sidelined, but they have both made progress in their recovery from hamstring injuries and are now back on the grass, while Mikkel Damsgaard has recovered from illness and is likely to start in midfield, potentially alongside Henderson and Mathias Jensen.

Fulham possible starting lineup:

Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Lukic; Iwobi, King, Kevin; Jimenez

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Kelleher; Kayode, Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter; Jensen, Henderson, Damsgaard; Ouattara, Thiago, Schade

We say: Fulham 1-1 Brentford

There has been little to separate these two West London teams in recent years, as both Fulham and Brentford have won four games each across the last nine meetings in all competitions (D1).

Another tight, yet entertaining, contest is in store this weekend, and although the Bees did the double over the Cottagers last season, we are backing the hosts to claim at least a share of the spoils on this occasion.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.