England Premier League
Saturday 12th February 2022
Kick off at 3pm GMT
Venue: Brentford Community Stadium
Match Preview:
Crystal Palace and Brentford are having much the same seasons in mid table and yet it is interesting to think that nobody is suggesting that Palace could go down this season but that Brentford could. Of course the reasoning for this is because this is Brentford’s first time in top flight football in over 70 years and they are the unknown team. The Bees have shown a lot of fight this season and have made their home ground hard to win at. But at the same time in the last few months Thomas Frank’s side have suffered and the worry will be a combination of fatigue and inexperience as we head into the final few months.
Even though at times the atmosphere has been blistering that some of the more experienced teams have dropped points here - even Manchester City could only manage a 1-0 win - the club have still lost 7 of their 12 games at home.
Crystal Palace’s recent form has not been good but with their forward line manager Patrick Vieira will be confident in finishing around 12th this season and perhaps that isn’t so bad in his debut season in the Premier League. A European finish would have been incredible for the club but they are about 10 points from that target and if form continues they could end up 20 points adrift. But the priority is safety this season and progress for next.
Palace’s problem this season is clearly their away form where they won just 1 game and secured just 2 points in their last 15. The Eagles have the 4th worst away record in the league and only four other teams have scored less than them on the road.
Team News:
Brentford: Tariqe Fosu-Henry is out long term with a hamstring injury. Zanka has fitness issues and will be assessed.
Crystal Palace: The club have no new injuries ahead of this game.
Brentford vs Crystal Palace Head to Head:
The clubs have not played here since 1977, it was a League Cup game and Brentford won 2-1.
Earlier in the season the teams drew 0-0 in the reverse fixture. It was the first goalless game between the clubs since 1912.
There is a 70% chance to see over 2.5 goals.
Brentford vs Crystal Palace Prediction:
Much like most of their opponents this season we can’t really look to history when talking about Brentford because they have such a long gap since being in the top flight and haven’t, as a consequence played the top teams on a regular basis.
Palace have the better team but as we found out earlier in the season even at home they were unable to score a goal against Brentford. However that was then and this is now and the worry for the Bees is going that extra mile and finding that extra gear which will help them over the line.
At this point in time we are not entirely convinced by them and the temptation is to back the away side to walk away with the three points. Losing seven games at home is not good and if Palace can find their shape and control the pace of the game we believe that Vieira will go home smiling.
Brentford vs Crystal Palace Betting Tips:
Draw no bet (Crystal Palace) at 2.00
Anytime goalscorer: Wilfried Zaha at 3.60
© Copyright topfootballtipster.com 2019
