This was a meeting of two sides who look like they are fearing the worst. While Thomas Frank and Patrick Vieira will not complain about picking up another point towards their survival fund, neither could be left satisfied after a scrappy encounter that failed to ever really get started.
For Brentford, there was at least the encouragement of ending a worrying sequence of defeats, not to mention seeing Christian Eriksen given a hero’s welcome at his new home.
An emotional appearance on the pitch from the Denmark midfielder – billed by his new manager as potentially Brentford’s “greatest signing ever” – before kick-off proved to be the highlight of the afternoon. The 29-year-old is expected to take part in a friendly on Monday as he begins his comeback, although Frank has said he will not be rushed back after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch at Euro 2020.
A player with such top-level experience would be a welcome addition to any squad but for a team that had lost their previous six matches in all competitions before this, Eriksen’s arrival could yet prove to be crucial.
After the blistering start to their first top-flight campaign since 1947, Brentford have picked up just eight points since beating Everton here at the end of November and are looking somewhat shaky even with their current cushion.
“The big positive is we got the clean sheet,” said Frank of a run that had also stretched back until then. “With Christian here as well now there are a lot of positives to look forward to.”
Palace’s draw against Norwich in midweek meant they started this match in 13th – the same as at this stage last season under Roy Hodgson – but with three points fewer. Vieira will have been encouraged to see his side make a better start than conceding inside the opening 40 seconds like at Carrow Road, although they could not create an early test for David Raya in the Brentford goal.
It was not until the 25th minute that either goalkeeper had a save of significance to make. Vicente Guaita was at his best to deny Bryan Mbeumo following a delightful through ball from Sergi Canós before a last-ditch tackle from Joel Ward rescued Palace again. They should have gone ahead soon afterwards when Jordan Ayew suddenly found himself bearing down on goal but his shot went embarrassingly wide after he took an age to let fly.
Vieira switched things around at half-time and pushed Wilfried Zaha up front to offer a more direct problem to the Brentford defence. But it failed to produce the required impact as the visitors continued to struggle to create any meaningful openings in a scrappy start to the second half.
Frank turned to Jay Dasilva after the midfielder made his first appearance for almost a year against Manchester City and the former Arsenal man should provide Brentford with an extra boost over the coming weeks. Palace supporters will also be delighted to see James McArthur’s return from injury after three months out and the Scotsman could at least claim to have registered a shot on target, albeit one that was comfortably gathered by Raya. Guaita had to work harder to reach a goal-bound header from Pontus Jansson with 15 minutes remaining and the Spaniard did well to divert it away to safety.
Zaha saw his appeals for a penalty waved away by the referee, Simon Hooper, in stoppage time before another Denmark international almost stole the show with the last kick of the match, although Joachim Andersen’s shot was watched all the way by Raya.
“We kept our organisation and we were very disciplined,” said Vieira. “But if we want to score more goals we have to get into the opponents’ box.”
