Brentford

Brentford have made enquiries over a potential deal for Leeds United's Colombia winger Luis Sinisterra, 24. (Football Insider), external

Read the latest transfer rumours here

We asked for your views on Saturday's game between Fulham and Brentford.

Here are some of your comments:

Fulham fans

Rob: Lack of belief. The players we brought in have not improved us. The boys have lost confidence. I fear Marco will walk, look what happened when he was at Watford. He is clearly unhappy with the strength of squad and I think it's rubbing off on players. Only Leno and Tete in the back five are good enough.

Kim: Every season we are last minute, this season is the worst, unless we have a centre forward lined up. This is unlikely and we are going to struggle. After last year's great team effort, it's a great disappointment.

Paul: Sadly, Fulham had no forward who could make any impression, highlighting the huge gap by the sale of Mitrovic to the Saudis. Though playing good possession football, schoolboy mistakes in defence gave Brentford a simple win. Fulham need to buy pacy players, someone who can win headers and hold up play. Marco Silva has been let down badly by Khan.

Bill: In 2013 we were lucky to scrape a win at Sunderland, next game we lost at home to Arsenal and the season fell apart thereafter. We were relegated. 2023 we were lucky to scrape a win at Everton, next game we got beaten by a much better London team that scored three. The performance was poor, I hope I'm wrong but we are going to struggle big time this season.

Brentford fans

Randal: This is a golden era for the Bees, the best they have done since I started following them shortly after the end of the World War Two. It beats the days when we used to end up with fading stars at the end of their careers like England's Tommy Lawton and Scotland's John Dick.

Simon: A good performance again from Frank's men. Pundits have suggested Brentford will struggle to better last season's ninth place finish, they might think again after this start. Rico Henry must get an England call-up soon.

Ian: Fulham's crowd support was very poor, whereas Brentford's vocal encouragement was non-stop. A professional performance from Brentford. Nathan Collins and Mathias Jensen ran the game. Another storming game from Rico Henry, who in the closing stages reverted to right back! Gareth Southgate please take note. Thomas Frank what a tactician.

Kevin: Brentford will put a lot of teams to the sword this season. This is a club that is going in the right direction and will continue to improve year on year.

Image source, BBC

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis of Saturday's five fixtures from the 2023-24 Premier League seasob, plus goals from Friday's clash between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United.

If you missed Match of the Day then fear not- you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer here

Image source, Getty Images

Sergi Canos is "as synonymous with Brentford’s rise as any player in the last decade" according to director of football Phil Giles after confirming the midfielder's exit.

Canos has left Brentford to join Valencia on a permanent deal for an undisclosed fee.

He made 249 appearances for Brentford, 36 of which in the Premier League.

Giles said: "Sergi Canos is probably as synonymous with Brentford’s rise as any player in the last decade.

"He has been with us for all but one and half seasons since our League One promotion; he’s been here for nearly all our biggest successes and biggest disappointments.

"Sergi joined us as a kid and grew up with us, as the club grew alongside him.

"My biggest memories of Sergi include him geeing up the crowd as an 18-year-old substitute, him being announced to the crowd on the last day of the January transfer window in 2017 as our then record signing, and getting a fantastic reception on the platform at Burton station after a 5-3 win in the Championship. No doubt fans will pick their own favourite memory.

"Therefore I’m sure I speak for all Brentford fans when we say thank you to Sergi for everything, and wish him well as he finally gets to move back home."

Brentford boss Thomas Frank on goalkeeper Mark Flekken: "Of course it's big shoes to fill but Mark is showing how good he is. He was one of the best in the Bundesliga when we signed him. He had a good solid performance today. I am pleased for that.

"I've been asked, 'what will we do when Ivan is not here?' We have seen that [Bryan] Mbeumo and Wissa have scored goals. We are very confident. We have been cool and haven't rushed out to get another striker."

Joe Rindl, BBC Sport

No Ivan Toney? No problem for Brentford. For the second match running both Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo were on target for the Bees, who steamrolled past rivals Fulham.

"I've been asked, 'what will we do when Ivan is not here?'" Brentford boss Thomas Frank told BBC Match of the Day after his side's first win of the season.

"We have seen that we have scored goals. We are very confident. We have been cool and haven't rushed out to get another striker."

Wissa calmly dribbled the ball beyond Fulham keeper Bernd Leno before slotting in the Bees' opener, while Mbeumo's strikes came from a penalty and a late, clinical tap-in.

Brentford are without last season's top scorer Ivan Toney, who is banned until January for breaking betting rules, but manager Frank will be relieved by the sparkling early form of his two forwards.

Wissa has now scored four goals across his past five Premier League games. Mbeumo has netted six in five.

Goals may not be such a worry for the Bees this season.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank to Sky Sports: "Such a good day for the fans. Local derby and we won. Very pleased for that. The first half was very even, not too much either way. Fulham are a good side. We were very dangerous second half. At 2-0, 11 against 10, it should be game over and it was game over."

On the penalty: "Big moment. We were the better side at that stage so it was more than likely we’d score. For me it’s a penalty. He's in front of Ream and there's clear contact."

On Wissa playing centrally: "I'm very pleased with him. His goal is not as easy as it looks. He has to stay composed. His link-up play was really good. He could have scored one more goal.

"I prefer to keep Ivan [Toney] of course but we were quite confident that Wissa and Mbeumo will provide us goals. So will Lewis-Potter and Schade. That’s why we haven’t brought in another striker.

"Very pleased with that clean sheet, so important for the team and Flekken and Collins."

• Brentford are unbeaten in their last 11 league games against opponents from London (W6 D5) - their joint-longest ever such run in the top four tiers.

• Fulham have failed to win their opening two league games of the season for a seventh consecutive campaign – last doing so in 2016-17 in the Championship under Slavisa Jokanovic.

• Bryan Mbeumo has been directly involved in eight goals across his last five Premier League appearances. Today’s goals saw him become the joint top scorer from Cameroon in the Premier League - 16 goals, equal with Joseph-Desire Job.

• Yoane Wissa has scored four goals in his last five Premier League games, one more than in his previous 29 appearances combined.

Yoane Wissa's opener and Bryan Mbeumo's double gave Brentford a comfortable win over west London rivals Fulham, who were reduced to 10 men at Craven Cottage.

A defensive error from Fulham centre-back Issa Diop set up Wissa, who rounded goalkeeper Bernd Leno before slotting the Bees into the lead on the stroke of half-time.

In the 64th minute, Wissa went through on goal only to be pushed over by Tim Ream in the box as he attempted to shoot.

And the Brentford winger added a third in the 92nd minute, tapping in Kristoffer Ajer's low cross.

Brentford's win was their fifth in eight games against Fulham and extended their unbeaten run in London derbies to 11, equalling a club record.

Were you at the match or did you follow it from home?

Fulham fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

How did you rate the side's performance, Brentford fans?

Follow all the reaction here

Chris Sutton will be making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of rivals. Next up is DJ, producer and Newcastle fan Anish Kumar.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Fulham got off to a flyer at Goodison Park last weekend, albeit in a game where Everton had lots of chances too.

Brentford are so well organised - they only had 30% of possession at home to Tottenham last weekend but still posed a threat on the counter-attack and fully deserved their 2-2 draw.

I have a feeling that the Bees will share the points this time too - his game has got a draw written all over it.

Anish's prediction: Both teams are very good on their day but evenly balanced, so a tough one to call. 1-1

Find out what Sutton and Anish predicted for the rest of the weekend's action here

Thomas Frank has been speaking before Brentford's Premier League game against Fulham on Saturday.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• He expects David Raya's loan move to become permanent: "I think it will not be a loan in the future, that is my feeling and understanding because I don't think it makes sense to go there on loan where there is big competition for the number one spot."

• However, he hasn't ruled out the possibility of the Spaniard representing the Bees again: "In football you never know, I learned that. You can never say never until it is a definite."

• He confirmed Mathias Jensen will start on Saturday after coming off last weekend with a quad injury. Frank said: "He's ready - that's very positive. He's going to start tomorrow."

• Frank Onyeka is also available again, while Ben Mee's calf injury will be assessed.

• The Bees boss gave special mention to Keane Lewis-Potter: "He’s a fantastic player and I have no doubt that he will be very good for us."

• After beating the Cottagers 3-2 last season and losing by the same scoreline in pre-season, Frank said: "Most likely it is going to be a 3-2 game tomorrow, hopefully with us coming out on top that would be nice."

• He added: "Marco Silva and his staff have done a top job, I like the way Fulham play. I can't wait to play them, it is a big game for us and the fans. It will be difficult away but we will do our best."

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• Fulham have won just one of their last seven league games against Brentford (D2 L4), though it was a 3-2 victory in this exact fixture last season.

• Brentford have lost just two of their last 16 away league games against Fulham (W6 D8), in a run stretching back to February 1981.

• The Bees are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League London derbies, winning five and drawing five. If they avoid defeat here, they will equal their longest unbeaten run in such matches in their league history (11 between February 1954 and August 1955).

• Fulham won 1-0 against Everton on matchday one – they've never won both of their opening two games in any of their 28 previous seasons as a top-flight side.

• Bobby De Cordova-Reid scored Fulham's winner at Everton and is looking to score in consecutive Premier League appearances for the first time. He netted after just 45 seconds in this exact fixture against Brentford last season.

• None of Yoane Wissa's 15 Premier League goals for Brentford have been the opening goal of the match – he's the highest scorer in the competition's history never to score the first goal in a game.

Phil Parry, BBC Radio London

The David Raya deal has finally gone through and for most of the parties involved it seems like a very satisfactory conclusion.

Raya himself gets to join a club challenging for honours domestically and in Europe, whilst also re-uniting with a former coach. Arsenal get their man and now have the best goalkeeping pair in the Premier League providing Mikel Arteta with real competition for who will get the gloves each game.

As for Brentford they had already moved on from the prospect of retaining the Spain international, getting a good overall price for his transfer and are protected against any permanent move to the Gunners falling through. I suppose the only person slightly put out will be Aaron Ramsdale, but competition is good right?

That deal aside, it's 'All Quiet on the Great West Road' (apologies to Erich Maria Remarque and actually Pete Doherty) and is most likely to remain so as the feeding frenzy of the transfer window continues. When questioned last week about the prospect of making any more signings Thomas Frank didn't rule out the possibility of another new arrival, but only if the fit was right. The club have already twice broken their transfer record this summer - once to make permanent the deal for Kevin Schade followed by the acquisition of Nathan Collins.

But instead of talking about looking outside his current group, Frank was more interested in discussing how he hopes that the squad progression will come from players continuing to develop. Aaron Hickey impressed when playing last season, but he will be expected to step on and aim for the ceiling being set on the other flank by Rico Henry.

There are also expectations that Keane Lewis-Potter and Mikel Damsgaard will show this time around why the Bees signed them. Neither were able to make an impact in their first season with the club, but there was mitigation and the second year is one where there is pressure to progress.

And of course come January there will be the return of Ivan Toney which will possibly feel like making a new signing. So you can see why the head coach is not too concerned about joining the signing scramble.

BBC Radio London sports editor Phil Parry on Brentford's attacking options on The Far Post podcast: "Brentford have been strongly linked with Brennan Johnson for a while now. The Ivan Toney conundrum means they haven't got him until January.

"Thomas Frank said he is impossible to replace, and when they know he's coming back they're probably not going to be able to recruit someone anyway.

"I think Frank will be frustrated with both goals [in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Tottenham]. The first was a set-piece, which they should have defended better, and the second was a failure to clear the line.

"But there are high hopes for Mikkel Damsgaard, who had a cameo during the game.

"There's nothing to cause too much of a concern for Brentford, but if they are able to go out and get another player that will give them offensive options, then I think they will."

Listen to the full discussion from 6'15 on BBC Sounds

Listen to BBC Radio London commentary on Fulham v Brentford (Saturday, 15:00 BST - FM & DAB), West Ham v Chelsea (Sunday, 16:30 - DAB and via BBC Sport website) and Crystal Palace v Arsenal (Monday, 20:00 - DAB).

Image source, Reuters

Arsenal have an option to make a permanent move for Raya, who has also signed a new contract with Brentford.

His new deal with the Bees is for two years with an extra year's option in the club's favour - although Brentford director of football Phil Giles expects Raya to join the Gunners on a full-time basis.

"I'm sure the first question that all Brentford fans will ask is why this transfer has been structured as an initial loan with Arsenal having the option to make it permanent in the future," said Giles.

"The answer to that is simply that it enables this deal to be done more rapidly between both clubs, with all parties wanting to make this a permanent transfer as soon as practically possible, whenever that might be.

"David's contract extension is a fallback position in the event that the transfer is not made permanent. I'm not expecting to see David back at Brentford, although if ever that happened then, of course, the opportunity to work with such a high-class goalkeeper for up to two more years would in many ways be an unexpected bonus for us."

Raya was part of the Brentford team that won promotion in 2021 and has since established itself in the Premier League.

"David has been a magnificent goalkeeper for us," added Giles. "He thoroughly deserves his move to a Champions League club and the next step in his career. In our view, he is one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and will show himself to be one of the best in the world in the next few seasons.

"On top of that, he is a fantastic human being, and his conduct around the training ground these past few weeks has been, given the uncertainty around his future, absolutely exemplary.

"We wish him nothing but good luck."

Image source, Reuters

The arrival of Brentford goalkeeper David Raya on a season-long loan will help Arsenal "perform at the highest possible level in all competitions", says Gunners sporting director Edu.

The 27-year-old Spain international will compete for the goalkeeping position with Aaron Ramsdale, who has been Arsenal's first-choice keeper for the past two seasons.

Edu said: "David is a top-quality goalkeeper, who has consistently performed to a high level with Brentford in the Premier League.

"With David joining us we are adding quality and depth to our squad so we can perform at the highest possible level in all competitions."

Ian Westbrook, Beesotted podcast, external

Brentford proved once again in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham that we are not a one or even a two-man team.

Despite the much-publicised absences of Ivan Toney and David Raya, as well as the injured Ben Mee, we just carried on as normal to earn our third successive home Premier League draw against Spurs.

The loss of Mee meant a back three who had never played together before of Ethan Pinnock, Kristoffer Ajer and new signing Nathan Collins, in front of goalkeeper Mark Flekken, who was making his Premier League debut.

However, a good defensive performance ensured that we continued our unbeaten Premier League opening day run.

It was also the fifth time in the last six games missed by Toney that both Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa had been on the scoresheet.

Mbeumo even took a Toney-style penalty to equalise!

However, Brentford’s man-of-the-match was undoubtedly the fleet-footed Rico Henry.

The left-back, the Bees’ longest-serving player, consistently turns in superb performances, with his terrific speed still amazing fans who have seen his lung-busting runs hundreds of times.

He had one assist on Sunday, nearly had a second, and also produced a vital late block – all in front of watching England manager Gareth Southgate.

The 26-year-old has been ignored constantly in international squads – but with England facing Ukraine and Scotland in September, surely the time is ripe to give him a go.

It makes you wonder if he would have been selected already had he played for a bigger club.

We’re all very glad he doesn’t!

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We asked for your views on Sunday's game between Brentford and Tottenham.

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Basil: I really couldn't understand our tactics. Playing everybody behind the ball and hoping to hit them on the break is OK for a while, but there is no out-ball when we do get possession, so you're talking about having to dribble and pass the entire length of the pitch.

Kyle: It’s a good home point, and at the end of the day we should have had two penalties both against Schade. Mbuemo’s penalty was brilliant but the referee let us down from a 4-2 win. Still impressive against Spurs though.

Peter: Whatever Thomas says about Flekken in goal - as Keane noted correctly on Sky - a top goalkeeper would have save that shot. Our defence do not look like they have confidence in him. Again Damsgaard disappoints - bullied off the ball all the time.

Chuck: Good performance from the Bees against the 12 men of Tottenham. The referee was a disgrace.

Tottenham fans

Tim: Positive stuff, defensively we'll need work. But we'll give lesser organised teams a beating. We deserved to win that with how well we played. Life without Kane may not be too bad after all!

Mob: Not a bad result and some positives to take from the game. Bissouma, Maddison, Royal and Udogie were the standouts for me. Micky van de Ven made a solid start. Possession/attacking football and pressing style pleasing on the eye. Sarr gave us a little more in midfield than Skipp. In all a good start to life without Kane and to Ange-ball.

Steve: Nice to see Spurs playing attacking football again. Need to sign a figurehead upfront and another central defender. I think we will do OK this season but can't see us in top four.

Bazza: Maddison was exceptional, he proved that £40m could be a steal. Both the goals Spurs conceded were silly. The penalty shouldn’t have been given and Van De Ven should have let Vicario collect the ball rather than dive in. But Spurs can take heart from a decent result that was gained by a new team who don’t have Kane. Good striker still needed.