Premier League: Brentford 2 [Mbuemo 29, Wissa 76) Crystal Palace 1 [Pinnock 56og]
The new Premier League 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 over Crystal Palace for the first time in almost 50 years.
The past three editions of this fixture had all finished as 1-1 draws and this edition had seemed destined to follow suit after Ethan Pinnock’s own goal had cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo’s opener in the first half. But on an afternoon that Thomas Frank had taken the bold decision of leaving Ivan Toney out of his matchday squad as the England striker attempts to engineer a move away, it was Wissa 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 back in 1977 had Brentford beaten their London rivals, while you had to go back even further – to September 7th, 1963 to be precise – for their last league win over Palace, in the old Division Three.
Yet after a summer in which Oliver Glasner 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 Palace’s manager 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 this past 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 haven’t got off to the best start after the club record signing, Igor Thiago – the man 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 on from the stands.
Palace, who had Jean-Philippe Mateta leading the line only nine days after he lost the Olympic 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 Eberechi 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 ruled out by Sam Barratt after he felt that Will Hughes had fouled Irish international Nathan Collins as they waited for the kick to be taken.
Glasner was not impressed when the video assistant referee found the whistle had blown for the foul before the “goal” and his mood was not improved a minute later when Brentford took the lead. Mitchell was caught up field 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. Palace thought they should have had a penalty at the other end when Mateta went down in the area but replays showed Flekken had played the ball. Schade then fired just wide before Guéhi was shown a yellow card for a studs-up foul on Mads Roerslev on the stroke of half-time.
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 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.
But 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, Wharton had an effort from distance parried away by Flekken as the visitors smelled blood.
But it was Wissa who 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. – Guardian
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