Our opening game in 2026 sees Thomas Frank return to former club Brentford for the first time in the away dugout looking to continue our strong showing in London derbies on New Year's Day.
Kicking off the new calendar year at Gtech Community Stadium (8pm UK), we head to west London having only lost one London derby in the league (W5 D2) on 1 January and remain unbeaten since that 3-0 loss to West Ham United in 1983.
In the Premier League, we've won both previous fixtures on NYD which came in a 1-0 win over Fulham in 2011 and a 5-3 victory over Chelsea at White Hart Lane in 2015.
When it comes to New Year's Day games on the whole, both sides tend to start the new year well with Brentford losing one in seven (W4 D2) and us winning seven of our last nine.
Buoyed by the determined 1-0 win at Crystal Palace to close out 2025, we remain in the capital and face a Brentford side who we are yet to lose to in all four away league fixtures since their promotion in 2021/22 (W1 D3).
Winning 2-0 there last term on 2 February, 2025, our Head Coach matched that result to get the better of his previous side last time out at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Xavi Simons inspired us to victory with an assist and a first Spurs goal in early December.
That victory made it four league wins on the spin against the Bees and we have only tasted defeat once in the top flight (W5 D3), a 3-1 loss in N17 in May, 2023.
Despite enjoying the upper hand over Brentford in recent seasons, new boss Keith Andrews has made an impressive start to life in management and his side have won eight of their 12 Premier League home games (D2 L2), including four of the last five.
In what looks set to be a game of fine margins, Richarlison will be eager to be the difference maker in a fixture he has relished in the past with the Brazilian having a hand in four goals across his five league starts against Brentford (three goals, one assist), scoring the opener when we met back in December.