Newly promoted Brentford have had a decent enough start to the 21-22 Premier League season, going undefeated after the first three matchdays.
With an impressive 2-0 victory over struggling Arsenal at home on the opening day, the Bees have followed that up with being able to dig out draws away from home both at Crystal Palace and Aston Villa and currently stand 10th in the league table.
Brentford can credit this start to the new season to their brilliant defence, as they have conceded just one goal in the first three matches, and have been able to keep two clean sheets.
Spanish goalkeeper David Raya has been solid between the sticks for the Bees, with the joint-second highest save percentage of 91.7% in the league. Their 3-4-1-2 formation has not only been successful defensively but has also been doing good going forward.
Centre backs Jansson, Ajer and Pinnock have kept their shape and not allowed many attempts on goal, and goalkeeper Raya has been saving almost all of the attempts that have come his way.
Brentford have been involved in the most number of defensive duels(241) in all of the Premier League so far this season. They also have the third-highest win percentage of these defensive duels with 26.6%.
This goes to show that all of the Brentford players have been highly committed to the team’s cause, and have gone on to show that on the pitch backing it up with good statistics.
Alongside defensive duels, they have also had the third most aerial duels(130) in the league only behind West Ham and Burnley.
Brentford have been highly impressive with their defending as the stats show, and have also made the third most recoveries of 247, with 89 of them coming in the opposition half.
Looking at these stats, one gets the idea that Brentford have been highly defensive in their approach. They have had the least number of attacking actions in the entire league, and have only a 43% success rate with these attacking actions. But it is fair to say that their defensive approach has brought them decent success early on, with the likes of newly promoted Watford and Norwich both currently behind them in the league standings.
The average position of the Brentford players in their most recent game against Aston Villa shows that they preferred to sit back and absorb the pressure, trying to catch the opposition on counter-attacks whenever they get an opportunity.
Looking at the final result, a 1-1 draw, it is fair to say that their approach has been successful. If they keep on putting good defensive displays like they have so far, the Bees have the opportunity not only to stay in the Premier League at the end of the season but to also finish in the top half.
