Oliver Glasner’s side snapped their recent run of poor form by thrashing Liverpool 3-0 in the EFL Cup in midweek, and they had to be resilient to repel a Brentford side who started on the front foot here, having beaten the champions last week in PL action.
Clear-cut chances came at a premium in the early stages, but the Eagles were clinical when an opening fell to talisman Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The Frenchman netted his fifth goal in six matches for club and country when he rose highest to turn home after Jefferson Lerma had nodded the ball into his path.
Brentford falling behind was perhaps a surprise given that they’d opened the scoring a league-high seven times this term heading into the weekend.
The Bees came close to seeing their deficit doubled before the break when Ismaila Sarr’s volley drifted just wide of the target, with that reprieve ensuring they were still well in the game heading into the break.
Any hopes the visitors had of staging a comeback appeared to fade just six minutes after the restart, though, when a Lerma long throw was inadvertently glanced into his own goal by Brentford captain Nathan Collins.
Keith Andrews’ men were shell-shocked, and only the post prevented Sarr from putting Palace three goals ahead moments later. Moments of promise at the other end were fleeting, with Dean Henderson’s most notable work coming when he was forced to deny Reiss Nelson’s effort.
As a result, they fell to a fourth defeat in six PL away games this term and languish in the bottom half as a result, yet trail Palace by just three points as the Eagles earned just a third H2H win in nine meetings in the competition.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jefferson Lerma (Crystal Palace)