Yoane Wissa scored the winning goal as Brentford beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at the Gtech Community Stadium on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
Brian Mbuyomo’s left-footed finish was canceled out by an Ethan Pinnock own goal after the break, but Wizza were level on 76 minutes and the Bees withstood some late Palace pressure to get the 2024/25 campaign off to the perfect start.
Thomas Frank picked the same side that lined out against Wolfsburg in the Bees’ final pre-season friendly.
New signing Fabio Carvalho was named among the substitutes, while striker Ivan Toni was left out of the matchday squad. „There is some transfer interest, so we decided not to involve him today,” Frank revealed before the game.
The Bees started brightly, moving the ball confidently and winning an early corner, but the first chance fell to the visitors.
Eberechi Eze showed some neat footwork before passing to Daichi Kamada, who sprayed the ball down the right. Daniel Munoz’s cross was flicked on by the towering Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrique Mitchell dragged it across goal to go wide of Mark Flecken’s left post.
On 15 minutes, Eze won the ball inside Brentford’s half and advanced to the edge of the area. Mitchell was in space on his left but the England international chose to go through on goal himself and saw his shot blocked by Nathan Collins.
Five minutes later, Flecken was caught in Kamada’s possession and the ball was 20 yards out for Eze. With Brentford’s No.1 out of position, Yovan Vissa was yellow carded for a tactical error and brought down Eze. From the resulting free-kick, Eze curled the ball around the wall and narrowly wide of the post.
Flecken grabbed Anderson’s first-time effort from 25 yards as Palace continued to press forward.
Seconds later, in a moment of controversy, Eze curled a long-range free-kick into the bottom corner, but referee Sam Parrott found fouls on Collins and Christian Norgaard and decided to blow his whistle before the ball hit the back of the net.
Brentford took the lead before half an hour, perhaps against the run of play. Nørgaard, Wissa and Mbeumo combined well down the right to run towards goal. Mark Guéhi crossed to stop Mbeumo and narrow the angle, but the forward cut onto his left foot and drove hard and low beyond Dean Henderson.
Immediately after the restart, Mbeumo spun in space on the edge of the box and slid a pass into the path of Christopher Ajer. The Norwegian tried to lift the ball over Henderson, but the Palace keeper stood his ground and cleared it out.
On 42 minutes, Norgaard flicked the ball down the left channel to free Kevin Shade. In a move reminiscent of his goal in this match last season, the forward beat two defenders with a smart turn to pull the trigger. However, on this occasion, his curling attempt flew wide.
In the final play of the half, Guéhi – who had been booked for a foul on Mats Rohrslev minutes earlier – played a long ball forward into the Brentford box. Kamada teed up Mateta with a short pass and the striker volleyed his shot wide.
Early in the second half Brentford’s centre-backs combined deep in Palace territory. Pinnock flicked on Vitali Genelt’s in-swinging cross from the right and Nathan Collins, at full length, couldn’t turn the ball on target.
On 50 minutes, Adam Wharton collected the ball on the edge of Brentford’s box from a well-worked corner. The young midfielder’s powerful effort beat Rohrslev and Pinnock and fell inches wide.
At the other end, Janelt broke away from the crowd as Mbeumo took a corner to the back post and volleyed over the crossbar.
As the second half continued at a frantic pace, Flecken dived to his left to palm Wharton’s 20-yard effort past.
Palace equalized on 57 minutes. Mitchell’s deep cross from the left was deflected across goal by Munoz and Pinnock, who carelessly put the ball past his own keeper in his efforts.
Two minutes later, Odzon Edouard – who had replaced Mateta at half-time – lifted the ball over Flecken and into the back of the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
On 64 minutes, Warden again found space on the edge of the box and his fierce strike was pushed away by Flecken.
Five minutes later, Jensen, defending the ball well on the edge of the visitors’ area, rolled a short pass to Janelt, who tipped wide of the target.
Edouard cleared the crossbar with a flourish as the game entered the final 15 minutes on a knife edge.
And Frank’s side seized the initiative. On 76 minutes, substitute Mikael Damsgaard crossed from the right and Collins unleashed a shot that deflected just wide of Munoz. Henderson pushes the ball away, but it only hits Vissa on the shin.
Collins then showed his worth at the other end, blocking Eze’s shot from outside the box, which Flecken comfortably collected.
The same trio engaged again a few seconds later. Mitchell fed the ball inside to Eze, the midfielder’s shot beat Collins and Flecken adjusted brilliantly to tip the ball acrobatically over the bar.
Jordan Ayve shot wide and saw another effort saved by Eze Fleckan – this time at his near post – as Palace pushed for a draw but Brentford held on for points on the opening weekend.
Brentford: stain; Roerslev, Collins, Pinnock, Ajar; Nørgaard, Janelt (Damsgaard 73), Jensen (Carvalho 83); Mpumo (M 90), Shade (Lewis-Potter 73), Wizza (Onyega 83)
Unused Subs: Waldimerson, Yarmolyuk, Beard-Harris, Trevitt
Crystal Palace: Henderson; Richards (Sarr 84), Anderson, Guéhi; Munoz, Warden (Lerma 74), Hughes (Doukoure 84), Mitchell; Kamatha (Ayu 70), Is; Mateta (Edward HD)
Unused Subs: Johnstone, Schlub, Klein, Riad
Attendance: 16,988
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