Preview
It’s hard to recall a Premier League fixture list serving up quite as many consecutive challenging fixtures as Crystal Palace’s has in recent weeks.
Since the turn of the year, Patrick Vieira’s team have been pitted against European hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United (twice).
Yet Vieira’s men have remained spirited in their response to that challenge, holding three of the division’s current top-six sides to draws at Selhurst Park while being unfortunate not to claim further points at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford.
It has certainly been an intense stretch of games, but that is unlikely to let up at the Gtech Community Stadium, where they will need to match a Brentford side who have lost just four times in the Premier League so far in 22/23.
Thomas Frank’s side are in an undeniably rich vein of form, unbeaten in their last 10 league games and having won their last three matches at home by two-or-more goal margins, including an eye-catching 3-0 win over Liverpool on January 2nd.
Following the 1-1 draw against Brighton last time out, Vieira noted: “I think you have to look at the teams we’ve faced lately, and to look at how strong those teams are.
“Of course, we want to play in a better way. [Against Brighton] we wanted to have more possession, and we wanted to go forward a little bit more. We wanted to score more goals, but at times, we have to accept the dominance of the opposition team, and show different qualities.”
The task for Palace against yet another in-form opponent, then, will be to challenge, to compete and, when their moments arise, to demonstrate the defensive and offensive quality required to pick up points on the road.
