Brentford v Crystal Palace: Opposition insight from Standard Sport’s Sam Tabuteau | OneFootball

Brentford welcome Crystal Palace to Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday (3pm kick-off BST, live on Sky Sports), with both sides chasing a strong finish to their Premier League campaigns.

From the red-hot form of Ismaïla Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta to Palace’s dangerous wing-backs and well-drilled back-three system, Standard Sport’s Sam Tabuteau explains why Sunday’s meeting could be an entertaining contest - and predicts a 2-2 draw between the two London rivals.

Crystal Palace’s Premier League status for next season has already been secured going into the penultimate week of this campaign, so how would you summarise 2025/26?

It has been a bit of a rollercoaster! It has been very tumultuous.

Crystal Palace started with a club-record unbeaten run, then had manager Oliver Glasner announcing he was going to leave, Marc Guéhi departing for Man City and, around the turn of the year, it really looked like it could get quite tricky for them.

They have done so well to recover, regroup and go again as a squad solely focused on reaching the Conference League final and then hopefully going on and winning it.

They have had a good last few months and they have done well amid quite a lot of off-field issues.

Winning the FA Cup last year was an amazing achievement, but what would European glory mean should they defeat Rayo Vallecano later this month?

It would just be fantastic. Winning the FA Cup at Wembley was magical, but I do not think any Palace fan could have envisaged European glory. It is something that comes to only a select few teams.

Obviously now there are three different competitions that you can win, but that does not make it an easy task.

To go and do that, to try and make that slice of history, would put them among a select group of clubs and, for supporters, it would be something no other group of Palace fans have experienced in their lifetime.

Which player should Brentford be keeping an eye on?

The obvious one is Ismaïla Sarr, who hit his 20th goal of the season in all competitions last weekend.

Sarr is in lightning form. They really missed him when he was at AFCON, but he has come back, hit the ground running and almost propelled Palace out of their mid-season slump and on towards the Conference League final and Premier League safety.

Jean-Philippe Mateta is another one to look out for. He was very close to leaving in January, but that whole narrative has now switched. He has overcome a knee issue and is now back among the goals.

Sarr is not necessarily starting every game because I think they are still managing that issue and they have Jørgen Strand Larsen, who signed from Wolves for a club-record fee in February. But whenever he has played, he seems to be among the goals.

I also quite like Yéremy Pino. It has taken him a while to get going in a Palace shirt as I think he struggled with the physicality of the league to start with, but he has really come into his own recently and is playing a vital role at the moment.

What should Keith Andrews’ side expect in terms of shape and style?

It is three at the back, wing-backs high and wide and a lot of threat through Daniel Muñoz, but also increasingly through Tyrick Mitchell on the other side.

Last season, I would not have necessarily said Mitchell was someone who excelled going forward and that was perhaps one of his limitations, but this season he has really taken that on and that is a side of his game he has really developed.

So, there is a lot of threat going through their wing-backs and then they have got a front three that are quite narrow and pick up all the balls into the area. They are really well structured, well organised and they play to their strengths.

What’s your score prediction?

I am going to go for a 2-2 draw.