Crystal Palace welcome Brentford to Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles host a sell-out crowd for the first time since a 1-0 win against Watford in March 2020. 

Palace are in a new phase in their history. The retirement of Roy Hodgson at the end of last season, ending a four-year stint with the club, has seen them appoint World Cup, European Championship, Champions League, and Premier League - to name a few - winner, Patrick Vieira, as manager, ship off a number of older players, and invest in the future. 

The club allowed the contracts of Andros Townsend (30), Patrick van Aanholt (31), Wayne Hennessey (34), Mamadou Sakho (31), Gary Cahill (35), and Scott Dann (34) to expire this summer and made the permanent signings of Michael Olise (19, Reading), Marc Guéhi (21, Chelsea), Joachim Anderson (25, Olympique Lyon), as well as Conor Gallagher (21) on a season-long loan, also from Chelsea. 

The opening weekend of the 2021/22 Premier League season was one of contrast for both of these teams. After an unbeaten pre-season, Palace were dealt a 3-0 defeat away to European champions Chelsea, while Brentford enjoyed a dream start to the campaign with a tear-inducing, magical 2-0 win at home to Arsenal

Chants of "we are top of the league" could be heard around the Brentford Community Stadium as the Bees sat momentarily at the summit of English football, and fans will be keen to see their team build on the performance and secure another three points this weekend. 

Thomas Frank's side boasted the second best away record in the Championship last season (42 points from 23 matches), bettered only by Norwich City, while Palace won just six of their 19 league matches at home in 2020/21, losing eight of them. 

Team news

The hosts have no new absentees. Eberechi Eze remains sidelined but is reportedly ahead of schedule as he recovers from a torn achilles. Michael Olise is expected to return to full training next week and will likely make his debut after next month's international break.

It has been confirmed that Conor Gallagher will be part of the squad after he had to miss out against his parent club. 

Thomas Frank will have everyone that was available last weekend at his disposal. Shandon Baptiste (back) and Mathias Jensen (foot) returned to training this week after recovering from their injuries but are unavailable. Josh Dasilva remains a long-term absentee and Tariqe Fosu has a minor knock. 

Predicted lineups 

Crystal Palace: Guaita; Ward, Kouyaté, Guéhi, Mitchell; Ayew, Riedewald, McArthur, Schlupp; Zaha, Mateta. 

Brentford: Raya; Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock; Canós, Onyeka, Nørgaard, Janelt, Henry; Mbeumo, Toney. 

Ones to watch

If Brentford are to win a second consecutive match, it will be important to nullify the threat of Ivory Coast international Wilfried Zaha. Since re-joining the club in August 2014, Zaha has consistently been one of Palace's top performers and one of the most difficult attackers to contend with in the league. 

Last season he produced his best goal scoring tally for the Eagles in the Premier League with 11 goals in addition to two assists. Overall, the 28-year-old was involved in 31.7% of this weekend's hosts' goals during 2020/21. 

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Since his arrival from Troyes in August 2019, no player has been involved in more goals for Brentford than Bryan Mbeumo (45; 24 goals and 21 assists). 

Against Arsenal he arguably should have added to his tally as he had three great chances - one of which he struck onto the outside of the post - and was a nightmare for Pablo Marí to deal with throughout the night. 

Typically on the right of a front three, the 22-year-old was stationed alongside Ivan Toney in a front two last weekend and could be deployed in this role again as his runs off the shoulder to latch onto Toney's knock-ons, potentially causing yet more problems. 

Previous meetings

This will be Crystal Palace's first competitive meeting with Brentford since a 5-1 League Cup win at Selhurst Park on 16 August 1977. 

The two's last encounter in the league dates back even further to January 1964 when they competed in the third division. Palace came out on top that day with a 1-0 win at home. 

Brentford haven't won a league game at Selhurst Park since a 2-0 triumph in March 1957.

The clubs met in a friendly as recently as August 2014 at Griffin Park when Brentford were preparing for their first second division season for 21 years.

Brentford won 3-2, despite the visitors levelling the score from 2-0 down in the second half, thanks to goals from Jonathan Douglas, Andre Gray, and a fine individual effort from Moses Odubajo.  

How to watch

This fixture will take place on Saturday 21 August at 15:00 BST. It is not being broadcasted live in England. 

What the managers have said

Crystal Palace manager, Patrick Vieira, says he is looking forward to taking charge of his team in front of a full capacity Selhurst Park for the first time. 

"I’m really excited, really looking forward to it. In the first home game you want to do well. We know the fans will be up for it and hopefully we will give them the game that they deserve."

The Frenchman believes Brentford will be a challenge but insists that there is no easy game in the Premier League. 

"This is a team that has been working quite well for the last five or six years. This is a group who know each other really well, so we’re expecting the same kind of commitment on the field. 

"Their work ethic is brilliant. They work really hard and really well for each other. This is a team that is well organised. It will be a different type of challenge than we had against Chelsea, but there are no easy games in the Premier League."

Brentford head coach, Thomas Frank, is anticipating a stern test on Saturday, but believes their win over Arsenal last weekend will give them a boost of confidence. 

"It is going to be very difficult. They will be on top of us from the first minute. They are a very difficult team to break down. We are confident and we believe in ourselves. We will go there and do our very best to be brave again.

"[The Arsenal win] gives us a lot of confidence but the Premier League is more than Friday night under the lights at our new stadium where everything is buzzing. We need to perform in different environments and show we can be consistent."

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