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 10 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.

Evenly matched

It seems a million years ago that we beat Brighton 4-1 at Griffin Park, live on the soon-to-be-defunct ITV Digital. That year, Brentford and Brighton were battling it out at the top of League One.

Fast forward and both clubs have a brand-new stadium and find themselves toward the top of the Premier League.

The similarities don’t end there. Brighton have also bought wisely and sold players on for a huge profit. In Roberto De Zerbi, they have a highly sought-after manager, who was a relative unknown before he landed on the south coast.

I can tell you that taking over any team that is already overachieving is very tough. The mindset of the players is that they are happy with the previous manager and his style, training sessions and tactics.

To complicate matters further, outgoing managers usually want their ex-players to jump ship and join them on their new adventure. A new manager has to be very aware of these potential flashpoints.

Managing egos, while still stamping your ideas on the squad, has seen many experienced head coaches fall by the wayside.

The most important element in the early stages is that you get results. Nearly everything else is forgiven if you are picking up points.

It isn’t just results for this Brighton team though; they have continued the attractive attacking style that Graham Potter played and is trying to re-create at Chelsea.

Capping it off

I’m sure every Brentford fan (and many others) were glued to their screens during England’s internationals against Italy and Ukraine, just waiting to see Ivan Toney finally make his Three Lions bow.

The Bees centre-forward become only the third Brentford player in history to earn a cap and the first since 1939.

I was a little frustrated to not see Toney appear in Italy and then have to wait until the 81st minute at Wembley, but it was a great moment to see him on the pitch.

It also showed that there are different routes to the England squad than playing in every age group from under-14s.