Fulham 0-3 Brentford

It was a derby day to forget for Fulham on Saturday on the opening home game of the season.

Yoane Wissa got the Bees ahead just before half time, before Bryan Mbuemo tucked away a penalty which saw Tim Ream sent off.

Then, in nine minutes of added time, Mbuemo tapped home a third.

Marco Silva made a pair of changes to his side from an opening day victory over Everton as matchwinner, Bobby De Cordova-Reid, came in for Willian, and Andreas Pereira was back in to start ahead of Tom Cairney.

Wissa had an early sighter on goal following a clearance from a free kick, but his volley soared well over Bernd Leno’s crossbar from close range.

Some razor-sharp pressing from Raúl Jimenez created something out of nothing next. He pounced on Mark Flekken in the Brentford goal and won his side a corner, which Issa Diop almost capitalised on.

Fulham piled on the pressure after 20 minutes. A couple of whipped deliveries from Andreas went towards Diop, who had stayed up from a free kick, but our big defender couldn’t quite find the breakthrough.

After a bit of unfortunate pinball in the middle of the pitch, the ball found its way to Wissa with space and time to get a shot off. In the end though, the shot barely made Leno flinch.

Ethan Pinnock cannoned a ball off his own crossbar moments later from an Andreas corner to cause the Bees some distress, only for a foul to be given on him anyway for a Kenny Tete nudge.

Heroic defending came next from Antonee Robinson. Mbeumo’s low driven ball was flicked towards goal by a Wissa and was heading in if not for a goal-line clearance from our American left-back.

Just over a minute before the half time break Brentford went ahead. Diop misjudged a pass back to Leno allowing the nippy forward to get in on goal. He rounded our ‘keeper before slotting into the bottom corner to deal a harsh blow to Fulham right before the interval.

After an even start to the second half it was Fulham who had the greatest chance first. Neat link up down the right between Tete and Harrison Reed allowed De Cordova-Reid a shot on goal with his left, and he was unlucky to see his arrowed effort ping off the top of the bar.

Harry Wilson tried his luck before the hour mark after starting a burst up field, but his shot from 30 yards didn’t have enough to trouble Flekken.

Five minutes later and things got a whole lot worse for the Whites. Tim Ream was adjudged to have taken down Wissa in the box and was shown red much to the bemusement of those in the stadium. Mbeumo compounded the mistake and sent the penalty into the bottom corner.

Silva made a triple swap in reaction, bringing Calvin Bassey, Willian and João Palhinha into the mix to try and quash the threat posed by the visitors.

Willian did his best to make an impact and went close with a set piece from the edge of the box, but there wasn’t quite enough dip on his shot to see the net bulge.

The closing minutes saw the introduction of Rodrigo Muniz as well as new boy, Adama Traoré, who slotted into a defensive position on the right.

In fact, there was time for Brentford to get a third, after Kristoffer Ajer squared for Mbuemo to tap into an empty net.

That completed a difficult afternoon to be Fulham. We go again next week at the Emirates.