Brentford have been hot stuff in the last few weeks and will fancy their chances in this clash with a Crystal Palace side who have gone off the boil in the Premier League.
Plenty of pundits tipped the Bees to struggle this season after losing manager Thomas Frank and star strikers Bryan Mbuemo and Yoan Wissa.
Promoting Keith Andrews from set-piece coach to manager also raised a few eyebrows but the Irishman has them purring now.
Brentford have won four of their last five in all competitions, with that run including impressive victories over Manchester United and Liverpool.
So they head across London to Selhurst Park in fine form and will be looking to take advantage of Palace’s dip in league form.
The Eagles were flying at the start of the season and went 11 games in all competitions without tasting defeat.
But they then went four games without a victory, although Palace managed to end that slump by beating a youthful Liverpool team in the EFL Cup in midweek.
How the bookies view it: Brentford overpriced at 3/1
With Brentford looking so impressive of late, I’m surprised to see them as big as 3/1 with BOYLE Sports for this match. Crystal Palace are 10/11 favourites and the draw pays 5/2.
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Recent head to head: Quick on the draws
We had a run of five successive draws in this fixture when these clubs first entered Premier League battle together in 2021.
That was ended by a 3-1 Palace win at Selhurst Park in December 2023 but Brentford won both meetings last season.
Players to watch: Mateta’s the man
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a memorable hat-trick in Palace’s last home game as he salvaged a point in a 3-3 thriller with Bournemouth. The big Frenchman is 6/5 at BOYLE Sports for another goal and evens at Bet365 for over 1.5 efforts on target.
Igor Thiago is making up for lost time at Brentford after missing most of his debut season with injury. The Brazilian has netted seven times in 10 games this season and looks a bit overpriced at 9/4 for another goal.
Probable line-ups
Both managers made changes for their midweek EFL Cup ties but Andrews was able to rest more big hitters against lower-league opposition.
He should revert to the side that outplayed champions Liverpool last weekend while Mateta will return up front for Palace after a midweek rest.
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Lacroix, Guehi, Richards, Mitchell, Wharton, Kamada, Pino, Sar, Mateta.
Brentford: Kelleher, Ajer, Collins, Van den Berg, Kayode, Henderson, Yarmoluk, Damsgaard, Schade, Outarra, Thiago.
Anything else catch the eye?
I was hugely impressed by Brentford last weekend and the bookies could pay for overpricing them here.
BOYLE Sports have them at 23/20 in the one goal ahead market and that looks worth a punt as the bet pays out if they take the lead at any point. The Bees are also decent value at 20/23 in the double chance.
Both sides have some powerful forwards who like to put themselves about. A double on Mateta and Brentford’s Dango Ouattara each committing over 0.5 fouls pays 21/20 at Bet365.
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