The final game of 2023 sees Palace host Brentford in a match up between two sides that are sliding closer to trouble with each passing week.
MATCH INFORMATION
- 3pm – 30th December 2023
- Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
PREVIOUS MEETING
These two sides last played out this fixture in August 2022 when a Wilfried Zaha strike put the hosts ahead shortly into the second half but Yoane Wissa stepped up with minutes to spare with an equaliser.
MAN OF THE MATCH – Vitaly Janelt (7.6)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Sam Allison. Assistants: James Mainwaring, Nick Greenhalgh. Fourth official: Andy Madley. VAR: Michael Salisbury. Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton.
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Cheick Doucoure, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Joel Ward, Sam Johnstone, Rob Holding, and Odsonne Edouard are all expected to miss out.
BRENTFORD – Rico Henry, Bryan Mbeumo, Aaron Hickey, Ben Mee, Ivan Toney, Kevin Schade, Kristoffer Ajer, Josh Desilva, and Frank Onyeka are unavailable.
DISCIPLINARY RECORD
RED CARDS – Jordan Ayew (1), Ben Mee (1)
YELLOW CARDS (5+) – Christian Norgaard (7), Frank Onyeka (5), Aaron Hickey (5)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 26/08/23 Brentford 1-1 Palace
- 18/02/23 Brentford 1-1 Palace
- 30/08/22 Palace 1-1 Brentford
- 12/02/22 Brentford 0-0 Palace
- 21/08/21 Palace 0-0 Brentford
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 27/12/23 Chelsea 2-1 Palace
- 21/12/23 Palace 1-1 Brighton
- 16/12/23 City 2-2 Palace
- 09/12/23 Palace 1-2 Liverpool
- 06/12/23 Palace 0-2 Bournemouth
Last FIVE results for Brentford;
- 27/12/23 Brentford 1-4 Wolves
- 17/12/23 Brentford 1-2 Villa
- 09/12/23 Sheffield United 1-0 Brentford
- 06/12/23 Brighton 2-1 Brentford
- 02/12/23 Brentford 3-1 Luton
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 15th in the Premier League with 18 points from 19 games played while Brentford are 14th with 19 points from 18 games played.
RECORD AGAINST BRENTFORD
- Played 43
- Won 17
- Drawn 12
- Lost 14
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Michael Olise 7.30
- Bryan Mbeumo 7.10
- Eberechi Eze 7.08
- Ethan Pinnock 7.05
ONE TO WATCH
YOANE WISSA
FORMER CLUBS – Epinay-sous-Senart, Linas-Montlhery, Chateaauroux, Angers, Laval (loan), Ajaccio (loan), Lorient
The DR Congo international has had quite a journey to the Premier League and with the forward options becoming increasingly minimal this season, Wissa has become an integral part of what Brentford do. We do already know this as he popped up very late on in this fixture last season to score the equaliser.
KEY CLASH
EBERECHI EZE v CHRISTIAN NORGAARD
It has been clear for all to see that Eze has not quite recovered from his latest injury and he will be very keen to make up for conceding a late penalty at Chelsea in midweek. He will be up against the tough tackling Danish international who has already received 7 bookings this season.
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Odsonne Edouard (6 – 12th in PL)
- ASSISTS – Jordan Ayew (4 – 19th in PL)
- PASSES – Joachim Andersen (1,121 – 15th in PL)
- TACKLES – Tyrick Mitchell (46 – 11th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Joachim Andersen (1,390 – 18th in PL)
- SHOTS – Odsonne Edouard (39 – 19th in PL)
- FOULS – Jordan Ayew (30 – 4th in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Jordan Ayew (50 – 2nd in PL)
- SAVES – Sam Johnstone (34 – 17th in PL)
- CLEARANCES – Joachim Andersen (92 – 2nd in PL)
- BIG CHANCES MISSED – Jordan Ayew/ Odsonne Edouard (4)
THE NUMBERS
All 5 Premier League meetings between Palace and Brentford have been drawn – it’s the only fixture in the competition’s history to see the first 5 meetings end level.
Each of the last 3 Premier League games between Palace and Brentford have finished 1-1, with the equalising goal coming in the final 15 minutes of the match each time.
Palace have won just 1 of their last 9 Premier League London derbies at home (D2 L6), beating West Ham 4-3 in April. Their 4 goals in that match accounts for 57% of their total scored across these 9 games.
Brentford have won each of their last 4 away London derbies in the league. In Premier League history, only Chelsea (1 run of 7, 1 run of 5) and Arsenal (1 run of 6, 1 run of 5) have won 5 or more consecutive away London derbies.
The Bees have lost 8 of their last 13 Premier League away games (W4 D1), including each of the last 3 in a row. However, all 4 of their victories on the road in this run have come in London derbies.
Michael Olise has provided an assist in 4 of his last 5 home starts in the Premier League for Palace. He has more home assists (4) than any other Palace player since the start of that run (29th April), despite only starting five of their 12 games.
TEB PREDICTION
This fixture is billed to be rather important for both sides, with the visitors coming into it off the back of four straight defeats compared with Palace who have 2 points from the last five games. While it may seem early to start to panic, the way both sides have sunk in recent weeks is a little alarming and both will be keen to take all three points. We are of course backing the Eagles to put in a performances to do just that and provide the fans with some light relief to end the year.
FINAL SCORE: 2-1
RESOURCES
