Key events
26 mins: “Vitaly, wooooaah. Vitaly, woooooah. He comes from Germany. And now he is a Bee”, sing the away fans. Certainly a goal of the month contender right there.
GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Brentford (Janelt 24)
Bassey loses the ball, Brentford exchange a couple of passes and Janelt let’s rip from 25 yards … and the ball flies into the top corner. What a hit! Out of nothing, Brentford are ahead! Wow, that’s their first shot on target.
22 min: Is Lewis-Potter good? Have watched him on countless occasions and still don’t know.
20 min: Brentford simply can’t get out of Fulham’s press, with Berge patrolling the midfield, and Fulham so nearly take the lead. Nelson, who has settled on being a left winger for now, bumbles his way through a couple of challenges and fires just wide! The home side are well on top, but need something to show for it.
17 min: Fulham fans must be loving this. This is surely their most exciting side since the one that lost to Atlético in the 2010 Europa League final.
15 min: Liquid football from Fulham! It’s one-touch stuff, with Smith Rowe, Andreas Pereira and Robinson all combining, the latter playing a brilliant pass inside Brentford’s full back (Roerslev) to release Smith Rowe, who tried to bend it inside the far post, but saw his shot deflected wide for a corner. That could easily have deflected into Brentford’s net. Honestly, that was one of the moves of the season.
12 min: This is intended as a compliment but I’m not sure exactly where Nelson is playing for Fulham. He’s popped up on both flanks and now drives forward centrally in the No 10 position, carrying the ball a full 40 yards until Collins expertly barges him off the ball.
10 min: Flekken is down, looks like he has possibly tweaked his knee? The Dutchman will continue but is wincing. No Premier League keeper has made more saves than Flekken, on 47 stops.
8 min: Nearly an own goal, as Robinson shepherds the ball back towards Leno. Mbeumo gives the Fulham full-back a shove and the ball nearly deflects past Leno, who gets something on the ball. Fulham scramble the ball away.
6 min: Nelson pops up on the left and drives unopposed into the Brentford box, forcing Flekken into a sharp save at his near post. The ball rebounds back to Nelson but Flekken again closes the angle. Good double save!
4 min: Pinnock, forced towards his own corner flag with a wayward pass, does exceptionally well to keep the ball in and skip past Nelson to start a Brentford attack.
“When Thomas Frank praises Ethan Pinnock for having been a mountain for Brentford, I wonder how Sepp van den Berg must feel (Berg is Dutch for ‘mountain’)”, email Peter Oh.
Van den Berg, normally a centre-back, is playing left back tonight. A knock-off Gvardiol, if you like.
2 min: Fulham start well, and Smith Rowe is at the heart of it, linking the play well outside Brentford’s box and setting up Jimenez for a (weak) shot, straight at Flekken.
Peeeeeeeep! We’re off.
The teams are out! Emile Smith Rowe’s socks are pulled suitably low. Two wreaths are laid in the centre circle in honour of Remembrance Day, which is a week today. The Last Post is played and impeccably observed.
“Surely Peterborough are the Poshest club in England”, emails Richard Hirst, an “An unposh Fulham supporter”.
You’ve done me, Richard.
Craven Cottage is a special ground, isn’t it?
This is the current Premier League table.
Fulham are undoubtedly the poshest club in England. Does anyone know of a posher club in the world? Usual answers to michael.butler@theguardian.com or via X: @michaelbutler18.
Traoré has been a bit hit and miss recently, so not that surprising to see Marco Silva drop him to the bench for Reiss Nelson, who joins former Gunners Bernd Leno, Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi in Fulham’s starting XI. And what a substitute Traoré is to bring on later in the game when Brentford legs are cramping up.
Just in case you missed this after Brentford’s last game, this was quite some speech by Thomas Frank in congratulating Ethan Pinnock on 100 Premier League appearances. Pinnock, who played non-league football with Dulwich Hamlet for the first six years of his career, starts again tonight for No 101.
The teams!
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Andreas Pereira, Berge, Nelson, Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Jimenez.
Subs: Benda, Reed, Wilson, Rodrigo Muniz, Cairney, Traore, Castagne, Sessegnon, Diop.
Brentford: Flekken, Roerslev, Collins, Pinnock, van den Berg, Norgaard, Janelt, Mbeumo, Damsgaard, Lewis-Potter, Wissa.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Schade, Jensen, Carvalho, Mee, Yarmolyuk, Meghoma, Konak, Maghoma.
Preamble
Hello everyone. Fulham and Brentford might be as different as Harrods is to Hounslow, but right now the two west London clubs are eerily similar. Having lost their best player in the summer (João Palhinha and Ivan Toney), the two clubs have started this season well, all things considered, and lie 11th and 12th respectively, one point apart, both with a net goal difference of zero.
Fulham are arguably the stronger team right now, but Brentford have the better manager. Both will be aiming for a top-half finish, but would probably take survival come the season’s end. Both sides have come close to beating City at the Etihad this season and both have lost to Manchester United. The point is, nobody knows what the ceiling or the bottom is for either side. And that, like watching Adama Traoré, is quite exciting.
It’s a derby under the lights. Join me.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT.
