Victory over Bees 'would be the cherry on top of a positive season'

Fulham's season has not got much left riding on it.

Safety is assured, European football is mathematically impossible, and even finishing in the top ten is looking unlikely after Saturday's draw with Crystal Palace.

However, there are some dangling carrots for Fulham fans to cling on to, and the first of those is this weekend's west London derby against Brentford at GTech Community Stadium.

Our record against the Bees is pretty poor, although we did win the most important game of them all in the play-off final in 2020. Whilst Fulham fans disagree about which team in West London they dislike the most, for me, this has become the most anticipated derby of the season.

Getting wins over Chelsea are always sweet, and whilst their mid-table slumbering's have been fun to witness, we know that their success in the past twenty years makes them a different beast to Fulham. Lots of Blues fans do not even really regard us as a proper rival.

Brentford fans however absolutely love beating us, so it makes the matches against them much more tense. It has the feeling of a proper derby, and while it does not compete with other great top flight rivalries, there will definitely be an intense atmosphere come 15:00 BST on Saturday.

The 3-0 loss to them earlier this season at the Cottage was a really tough one to take, so I really hope we can make amends for that. A win at Brentford would be the cherry on top of what has been a positive season overall.

Sammy James can be found at Fulhamish