Ben Burgess became a fan favourite at Griffin Park during the 2001/02 campaign, netting 18 goals in 51 appearances while on loan from Blackburn Rovers. In total, Ben led the line for ten clubs during a 14-year career.

Now a teacher in Lancashire, Ben still keeps a close eye on the Bees and will be providing his thoughts ahead of each game this season.

Setting the standard

What an ambassador for Brentford Football Club Ivan Toney is.

Not only does he carry himself with dignity on the pitch, he does off it off the pitch as well (even in the light of provoking tweets from Arsenal players).

His call-up to the England squad was nothing less than he deserved.

For many people in the sporting world, it must have seemed like a miracle that a player who began his career at Northampton Town and was unceremoniously dumped by Newcastle United without being given a chance is now an England player, especially as he never featured for any of the youth teams.

What I love about Ivan is his self-confidence. In his first interviews after his call-up, he declared that he always believed he would be an England player.

I know that as a player I often lacked self-belief and sometimes let pressure situations get to me; Ivan sees that pressure as a privilege and not as a burden.

In fact, anybody who has ever seen him take a penalty can attest to his lack of nerves. I can imagine he felt like he belonged as he sat in the same changing room with Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Reece James and Bukayo Saka.

He along with nearly every other fan would have been disappointed he did not get on the pitch, but this is still a significant step for his career. Gareth Southgate likes to be extremely loyal to players who have performed well in the past (think Harry Maguire) but I can’t help feel that if something doesn’t work with his ‘favourites’ then England have no tried-and-trusted back-up plan.

It made no sense to play Harry Kane for 90 minutes in both games. I couldn’t help but imagines the scenes if Ivan had been given a run-out with ten minutes to play against Germany and it’d been him slotting home the penalty that sent Wembley crazy. Maybe next time.

Too much too soon?

Secondary school can be a minefield. Do you want to hang out with the popular kids or slip under the radar? Swot up for your GCSEs or act like you don’t care?

Imagine having all of that in your head and then also becoming the youngest person to ever play in the Premier League! I can only imagine how much attention Ethan Nwaneri received on the Monday, at school, after he made his debut for Arsenal against Brentford at the age of 15.

Mikel Arteta claims he just had a feeling about Nwaneri after looking in his eyes. They must be mesmerizing!

I made my First Team debut for Blackburn Rovers at 18, and I was extremely nervous and excited then, so it must have been a very emotional day for Nwaneri.

Arteta has received criticism from some quarters. Former Liverpool player Danny Murphy, in particular, accused him of mismanaging the player. Only time will tell how far this obviously exciting lad can progress in his career, but I can’t help think all of this inevitable scrutiny and pressure will weigh heavy on such young shoulders.

History is littered with players who burst on to the scene and then faded. Anyone who ever played Championship Manager can tell you how good Freddy Adu was; debut at 14, pursued by every big club in the world and then... nothing.

Matthew Briggs (Fulham), Izzy Brown (West Bromwich Albion), Jose Baxter (Everton) and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (Aston Villa) made their debuts at 16 and they all failed to make an impact in the Premier League before falling down the leagues.

Every kid dreams of making their debut in the Premier League; to achieve that so young must be very hard to deal with. As we have seen, many players let it go to their heads and they struggle to progress.

Let’s hope Nwaneri has the support and level-headedness to buck the trend and achieve in line with child prodigies like Wayne Rooney and Harvey Elliott. I’m sure fellow Gunner Jack Wilshire can give him plenty of advice on achieving so much, so young.