Analysis: Mbeumo and Wissa could join distinguished list of Premier League strike duos | OneFootball

Playmaker predicted a topsy-turvy west London derby in the build-up to Brentford's 3-2 defeat to Fulham at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday and the game certainly delivered on the entertainment front.

Despite a disappointing result from the Bees' perspective, Brentford's hopes of a Europa Conference League place next season remain alive - although their qualification scenario depends on Chelsea, currently fourth, finishing seventh and a number of other results going their way.

Afterwards, head coach Thomas Frank stated that there were "more positives than negatives" to take from the game and highlighted that "the first half was one of the best halves of the season, one of our best here at the Gtech".

The free-scoring duo of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa both netted in the fantastic aforementioned first period to move both players to 19 Premier League goals this season: Mbeumo firing home a rare right-footer before the predatory Wissa pounced from close range after a Michael Kayode throw-in caused chaos.

Wissa afterwards spoke of his pleasure at adding to Brentford’s highest-ever Premier League goal tally (65) and the DR Congo international and his sidekick Mbeumo - who missed his first-ever Brentford penalty last weekend - will hope to reach 20 goals apiece in the Bees' final game of the season at Wolves.

Should Mbeumo and Wissa both post 20-goal seasons, they will join an exclusive and distinguished list of Premier League strike duos.

Dating back to the advent of the Premier League in 1992/93, only four strike partnerships have clocked up 20+ goals each in the same season, which highlights how special an achievement it would be if Mbeumo and Wissa could both make the net bulge at Molineux next Sunday.

A roll call of the previous duos to chalk up 20 Premier League goals apiece is mightily impressive, the first pairing to manage it doing so during the 1993/94 season.

On a separate note, if either or both of Brentford's in-form forwards score against Wolves they will join Ivan Toney as the only players ever to score 20 goals in a Premier League season for the Bees: the current Al-Ahli striker notching exactly that figure for the Bees in 2022/23.

What is more, in Wissa’s case, 20 Premier League goals without a single penalty is on the cards.

Currently, no player in the top flight has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League in 2024/25 than Wissa (19 - level with Salah, Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak), a statistic that enforces just how sharp the 28-year-old’s goalscoring instincts have been all season.