Andrews: Small steps are making Brentford grow as a group

Keith Andrews believes his Brentford side are "growing as a group" following their EFL Cup win over Aston Villa.

After Harvey Elliott opened the scoring at Gtech Community Stadium, Aaron Hickey's second-half equaliser forced penalties between the two Premier League sides. 

And the returning Mikkel Damsgaard struck the decisive spot-kick to seal a 4-2 victory in the shootout, sealing their spot in the fourth round of the competition. 

The result came after they salvaged a point in their last Premier League encounter against Chelsea, with Fabio Carvalho striking in second-half stoppage time for the Bees. 

Brentford find themselves 12th in the top-flight with four points from their first four games, one place below Fulham, who they face this Saturday.

And Andrews is confident that his team are moving in the right direction despite their indifferent start, saying after the Villa win: "Even though we made a lot of changes tonight, I feel as though we're growing as a group, we're taking steps, in terms of what we do with the ball, and we're definitely getting there. 

"We mentioned the steps we wanted to take as a group, compared to a few weeks ago when we played against them here, when we were forced low; that was really early days for us as a group.

"After the first 10 minutes of the game, we started to dictate a lot of it, we caused a lot of problems down the right, and we looked really, really, dangerous.

"I was very happy with the reaction after that, and then the reaction after going a goal down. I wasn't worried at half-time. To be honest, I felt confident that we'd get back into the game."

Fulham, meanwhile, secured their first Premier League win of the season last time out after they beat newly-promoted Leeds United 1-0.

Although they got the victory through a 94th-minute own goal from Gabriel Gudmundsson, Marco Silva was impressed with the impact summer signing Kevin made off the bench.

After entering the match in the 76th minute, Kevin registered one shot on target, which led to the corner from which the goal was scored, created one chance and completed two of his three dribbles.

"Massive impact from Kevin. I know him very well," said Silva.

"When I pushed to go for him, he's a player who is still very young but at the same time has enough maturity because he was playing in the Champions League and Europa League.

"We don't have any doubt about his quality. He has a different profile to our other wingers."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Fulham – Alex Iwobi

Alex Iwobi, who directly contributed to 15 league goals last season (nine goals, six assists), continues to be at the forefront of the Fulham attack.

No attacking player (strikers, attacking midfielders, wingers) has made more progressive carries in the Premier League this season than the Fulham midfielder (37).

Brentford – Kevin Schade

Kevin Schade opened his goalscoring account in the Bees' last match after he scored the opener against Chelsea.

Following the exits of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, Schade is looking to build on his 11 goals and two assists from the 2024-25 campaign.

MATCH PREDICTION – FULHAM WIN

Fulham completed a Premier League double over Brentford last season and are looking to win three league games in a row over the Bees for the second time, after winning their first three clashes from 1928 to 1929.

Brentford may need to capitalise on their set-piece strengths as Fulham are one of just two sides (along with Arsenal) yet to concede from open play in the Premier League this season, with their goals against coming from either corners (two) or penalties (two) so far.

However, Fulham have lost five of their last seven London derby games in the Premier League (won two), having been unbeaten in their previous 10 beforehand.

Brentford, meanwhile, have lost two of their three Premier League visits to Craven Cottage (one win), more than their previous 15 league trips to Fulham beforehand (won six, drawn eight, lost one), while they could lose twice in a row at Fulham in the league for the first time since January 1954 (four in a row).

The Bees are also winless in their last three away Premier League games (drawn one, lost two), losing both of the last two, having won seven of their nine league games on the road beforehand (drawn one, lost one).

Only Burnley (30) have had fewer shots than Brentford (33) in the Premier League this season, with the Bees’ average of 8.3 shots per game their lowest in any of their five campaigns in the competition.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Fulham – 43.0%

Draw – 26.7%

Brentford – 30.2%