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The grind to Europe continues for Brentford. A goalless west London derby with Fulham made it five league draws in succession for Keith Andrews’ side, the chance to go within touching distance of Liverpool squandered.
The saviour for Fulham was Bernd Leno with a staggering reflex save in the final minute of regular time, tipping over Dango Ouattara’s close-range effort. Calvin Bassey, the hulking centre-back, was quick to hug his keeper, recognising the game-saving moment.
In a match with few clearcut chances, that was the closest either side came to winning it, with Igor Thiago kept relatively quiet by the lime-green wall built by Bassey and Joachim Andersen. Brentford pressed and pressed at the close, threatening with set-pieces as Fulham escaped. Marco Silva’s team failed to register a shot on target.
Brentford, even with the lack of recent wins, have written a defiant story this season, settling in the top half despite last summer’s upheaval. Out went Thomas Frank, his two main goalscorers and the captain, too. Up stepped the set-piece coach Andrews and the striker who had barely played in the previous campaign; Thiago remains on Erling Haaland’s tail, the Golden Boot very much up for grabs.
But the man to watch at the start was Harry Wilson, a figure who haunts the thoughts of Brentford supporters. It was Wilson who came off the bench 17 months ago to nab two goals in added time and steal the points. As a sub once again, he curled in a 25-yard winner at the Gtech last May. As a starter, he scored Fulham’s second in their 3-1 victory at Craven Cottage in September, when Brentford found themselves 17th after five games, the Andrews effect still waiting to kick in.
Naturally it was Wilson who had Fulham’s first opportunity, cutting in from the right to launch, but the shot rattled off his teammate Rodrigo Muniz. Thiago tried to be a nuisance at the other end, with an early header travelling wide. The Brazilian looked sharp, to be expected after that double against Everton last weekend.
Fulham worked the ball neatly under the sunshine, their frontline fluid. Wilson and Emile Smith Rowe, the No 10, switched roles regularly; left-back Ryan Sessegnon surged forward into the middle as Alex Iwobi worked away on the touchline. Nonetheless, there were no openings, Sessegnon coming closest in the first half when he was found by Tom Cairney but booted over from inside the area. The visitors were disrupted by an injury; Iwobi left the field before half-time after clutching his hamstring.
Frank was in the stands to watch his former club as they, too, failed to create anything substantial in the first half. Keane Lewis-Potter showed tidy feet to find space in the crowded area just before the whistle but failed to test Leno.
The energy from both sides stepped up in the second half, a desperation there for the first goal. Ouattara was thoroughly watchable for Brentford as he searched for an opening in the right but it was Mikkel Damsgaard who tried to deliver the stunner. The hosts went direct: Mathias Jensen’s diagonal ball was headed down by Kevin Schade, and Damsgaard, bursting through the middle, very nearly found the top left corner with a first-time hit from the edge of the area.
Ouattara’s cross turned shot forced Leno to tip over, Wilson played the ball across goal when he should have found the target. Leno, unlike Caoimhín Kelleher, had work to do, denying Jensen, his free-kick from the left heading for the top left corner. The Fulham keeper’s finest moment was still to come.
