Brentford

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Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton says a potential move to Saudi Arabia for Ivan Toney "should be a no-no" because he is only 28 years old "and in his peak".

The Brentford forward has been linked with moves to several English clubs this summer as well as a switch to the Saudi Pro League.

"It is such a waste for Toney," said Sutton on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club. "It doesn't mean he can't go to Saudi and come back to a Premier League club, but why doesn't he just wait for another season and then get a move?

"He has had the high of the Euros so his career is in a really good place at this moment in time.

"From Brentford's perspective you can understand that they will want a high fee, but purely from a footballing perspective it would be such a waste him going to Saudi. At this stage of his career, it should be a no-no really.

"A fit and firing Toney alongside Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbuemo can be unplayable at times.

"We've talked a lot about Arsenal needing a striker, but I think he would be a good fit for Manchester United too.

"Going to Saudi at 28 years old makes no sense. You can have all the money in the world but this is him at his peak so I would like to see him stay in the Premier League."

Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayer or listen on BBC Sounds

Brentford expect Ivan Toney to join Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League and are hoping to receive about £50m for the striker. (Times - subscription required), external

However, Chelsea could be tempted into making a late move for Toney. (Sun), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Brentford and Crystal Palace.

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Fred: Great game and we finally beat Palace in the Premier League. They are a good team who are very well coached. A couple of nervy moments but our defence seemed to be stable and Flekken was unbelievable. Onto Liverpool now

Matt: Some incredibly slick passing and hard battling helped us beat a resilient Palace, but some sleepy defending could have cost us more than it did. Still unsure where Carvalho starts but excited for the season nonetheless!

Stefano: It was a tricky win by Brentford against Palace, but a deserved one! They didn't need Toney either, but would be sad see him go, nevertheless.

Palace fans

Steve: Disallowed goal is a major talking point. But, Palace were far too open on the counter attack. Munoz and Richards looked vulnerable, while Wharton did seem off the pace. Brentford are an average team, and were there for the taking. Yet this defeat may be a blessing in disguise, reminding everyone that considerable improvement is still needed.

Gavin: No question that it was a disappointing performance. We seemed to lack cohesion and a directness, both of which were in abundance at the end of last season. On the balance of play, it is a game that we should not have lost but we thoroughly deserved our equaliser, albeit an own goal. Defensively we need to improve for West Ham.

Christian: Very frustrating all round. Wasn't a good performance by any stretch, but it wasn't helped by incompetent officiating. If that was Sam Barrott's trial, it didn't go well. Supposed to be the best league in the world, and it is let down by the referee's time and time again.

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Wolves have already been told by Brentford they do not want to sell Yoane Wissa.

The Bees had made their stance clear before the forward scored the winner in the Sunday's 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

With the possibility Ivan Toney could leave the Gtech Community Stadium Brentford boss Thomas Frank said after the Palace win he wants Wissa to stay.

Wolves are looking for reinforcements after selling Pedro Neto to Chelsea - who come to Molineux on Sunday - for £54m and Wissa is on the list.

The 27-year-old has been at Brentford since joining from Lorient in 2021 and has scored 30 goals in 111 appearances.

Wolves boss Gary O'Neil does not have a pot of gold to spend and a centre-back to replace Max Kilman, after his £40m move to West Ham, is likely to be the priority.

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Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy believes Brentford are showing "variation" in their play and their building from the back shows the versatility of head coach Thomas Frank.

The Bees opened their Premier League season with a 2-1 home victory over Crystal Palace and were without star striker Ivan Toney amid reports linking him with a move away.

"I think there's a misconception around Brentford from people who just think they are set-plays, direct, long-throws and a long ball team," Murphy told Match of the Day 2.

"I saw a lot of Brentford last season, they can vary the play.

"Against Palace there was a huge emphasis, more than in any of the games I saw last season, on playing out from the back.

"It was very brave, maybe an adaptation because of Toney's absence. Igor the new signing is injured too, the man who was probably going to replace Toney.

"There was real confidence. It was high-risk. Palace had a press, they didn't just let them do it and some of the movement and play of Brentford coming out was of really high quality.

"If you took away the colour of the strip, at times you could mistake them for City or Arsenal.

"This is not easy to do. To play out from the back with the quality they have and then get end product - it is with penetration and positivity.

"They're brave to get out and when they get out they have width and pace with Wissa and Mbeumo. Two players playing with confidence with a real threat.

"This is a really positive Brentford side. I was really impressed, they had variation. Sometimes Thomas Frank doesn't get the plaudits he deserves because his team is not a one trick pony. I don't think they will have any problems this season."

Watch Match of the Day 2 on BBC iPlayer

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Brentford forward Yoane Wissa says his partnership with Bryan Mbeumo is so good that he could pass to him "blind".

The strike duo were both on the scoresheet as the Bees beat Crystal Palace on Sunday in a game in which Ivan Toney did not feature.

Toney was left out by Thomas Frank, amid links to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli, but Brentford did not look like they were missing their most prolific scorer.

"Even blind, I know where Bryan is," said Wissa after setting up Mbeumo's goal.

"He's going one-on-one more, and he'll be very happy he scored. I'm happy to work with him."

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The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards says "it is a really tough time of the season" for managers because the campaign gets underway while there is still so much speculation during the transfer window.

Thomas Frank chose to omit Ivan Toney from the matchday squad against Crystal Place because of "transfer interest" in the striker.

"They took the decision to leave him out but we all know how important he is for them," said Edwards on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily Podcast. "But the doubts about his future have been going on for a long time now.

"They ended up winning the game even without playing their best player, but it is not an easy decision for a manager to make.

"Every manager would like the transfer window to end before the start of the season."

Listen to the Football Daily Podcast on BBC Sounds

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Highlights and analysis from Sunday's two Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Arsenal 2-0 Wolves

• West Ham 1-2 Aston Villa

• Brentford 2-1 Crystal Palace

• Chelsea 0-2 Man City

Representatives of Brentford and England forward Ivan Toney, 28, are in talks with Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli. (Teamtalk, external)

Manchester United are not interested in pursuing a deal for Toney. (Sky Germany, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Joe Rindl
BBC Sport journalist

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Brentford's win came despite manager Thomas Frank telling Sky Sports before kick-off that Ivan Toney had been left out of the squad because of "transfer interest" in the England striker.

Asked if Toney has already played his last match for Brentford, Frank said: "Who knows? There is interest. It's not close."

If Toney was to leave, replacing his goal threat is likely to be a talking point throughout Brentford's season.

And that may prove a tricky challenge given Brentford's summer signing, centre-forward Igor Thiago, remains out until late 2024 after picking up a knee injury in pre-season.

On Sunday it was forwards Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa who found the net.

The pair have history stepping up with Toney out of the side. They scored 21 league goals between them last season in a campaign where Toney was banned for eight months for breaking Football Association (FA) betting rules.

The form of Mbeumo and Wissa may be key for the Bees this term too.

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Thomas Frank spoke to BBC Sport after Brentford's victory over Crystal Palace: "You can say that [Brentford got lucky with Palace's disallowed goal] It is a foul. We had the exact same situation against Sheffield United last year. It would have been disallowed anyway."

On Ivan Toney, Frank added: "There's been a lot of things around Ivan with transfer rumours and activity. That is why he didn't feature today."

"No [a move isn't close], there's things going on, but it is not potentially close."

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Brentford’s Yoane Wissa became the first player to both score and assist in three consecutive Premier League games since Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez in December 2021.

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on the performance, Brentford fans, external

What did you make of that display, Crystal Palace supporters?, external

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Follow reaction and read the match report

There are two games on the opening Sunday of the 2024-25 Premier League season and BBC Sport will bring you all the action and reaction.

*All times are BST

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A new season, and a new challenge for BBC Sport's prediction expert Chris Sutton.

Sutton faced off against a guest for each of the 38 game weeks in 2023-24 and triumphed 21-10 (with seven draws) to secure his second predictions title in a row.

In the first week of the new season, his opponent is The Courteeners frontman Liam Fray.

The pair have both given their prediction for Brentford v Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

England striker Ivan Toney is still at Brentford and who knows how that will pan out.

They will be fine if Toney does leave, because they carried a threat for so long without him last season anyway, and I like the balance in their team.

Crystal Palace ended last season really well under Oliver Glasner but I'm not sure how they will shape up this time.

Jean-Philippe Mateta has been at the Olympics, Michael Olise has left, while Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen could be sold as well - so we could be seeing a very different Palace.

We will have to wait to see how things settle down for both sides but, in the meantime, this is another game with draw written all over it.

Liam's prediction: 2-2

I think both teams will be pretty attacking so I can see a few goals.

Read the full predictions and have your say here

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Earlier, we asked you who has made the most Premier League appearances for Brentford.

By a whisker, the answer is Vitaly Janelt, who has 104 for the Bees, a mere two games clear of team-mate Yoane Wissa.

In that time, he has scored eight goals and made four assists.

Tasnim Chowdhury
BBC Sport Journalist

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Crystal Palace (kick-off 14:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• On Ivan Toney, Frank said the England forward has "trained well and is available for Sunday". He added: "This transfer window, there has been so much talk about Ivan. I think everyone will be a bit disappointed that he is still here after 1 September, because you [the media] can't ask that question again. There's a January transfer window, but let's see."

• On team news: "The main thing last season was that we had too many injuries. A lot of them are now in a good place - for example, Ben Mee and Keane Lewis-Potter will be available for selection on Sunday, which is a very good thing."

• On new signing Fabio Carvalho who joined earlier this week from Liverpool: "He will be available for the team and for the squad. I'm pretty sure he will be involved in that. He has looked good in training; he is a very exciting player. I like the way he is on the half-turn, the way he drives with the ball, the way he he can set up other players, the way he can also score goals. I think he has a lot of quality."

• On his wishes for the new season: "One wish would probably be to say no injuries, but the fewest injuries in the league. If we get that then we will have a fantastic season."

• On making improvements to prevent injuries: "The injuries that happened [last season], we were never happy with because there was a lot of contact injuries, a lot of unlucky injuries. We just try to every stone to see if there's something that we can improve."

• On Crystal Palace, Frank said: "I expect they will have a good season. They were impressive the way they finished last season. I think Oliver Glasner and his coaching team, the players and everyone did very well at Crystal Palace. I think it's clear to see what he wants. They look like they're very difficult to play against. I expect a difficult, tight game on Sunday. I think it's two even teams that will hopefully go toe-to-toe. I hope it will be entertaining for the fans. We will do what we can to attack and do what we can to win the game."

Look back at Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Our football news reporter Nizaar Kinsella has asked whether Brentford's "unbridled success" in data-first football can take them into Europe, so we wanted to get your thoughts.

Here are some of your comments:

Ken: Yes I think we can. In the 2022-23 season we were so close. We fear no-one and can beat anyone - we just need to avoid the injury crisis of last season.

Ian: Anything is possible in football. I would love to see Brentford play in a major European competition. The club is currently under shrewd stewardship. Brentford have travelled a fair distance in the English football pyramid over the past 15 years. I think that the European dream can be achieved in the next five years.

Arg: Maybe in a few years but this season most likely not. Brentford have been plagued with injuries and what I would say was bad luck. But last season proved that no matter what the game of football throws at them, they'll come out on top better than ever.

Charlie: Don't let a heavily injury-riddled team fool anyone. Brentford have what it takes to make European football as long as they can keep key players fit. They start this season with a much stronger squad.