Crystal Palace 2-0 Brentford: Which star proved their worth, how Palace's defence nullified the Bees - and who won the 'battle of the long throws'?

Crystal Palace made it two wins and clean sheets in a row by beating Brentford 2-0 to cap an impressive week.

Jean-Philippe Mateta's brilliant header put the Eagles ahead in the first half before Nathan Collins nodded past his own keeper from Jefferson Lerma's long throw early in the second period.

Palace comfortably closed out the victory to rise to seventh in the Premier League table.

Daily Mail Sport's WILL PICKWORTH was at Selhurst Park and he has picked out some key talking points from the match.

Crystal Palace comfortably beat Brentford 2-0 to rise to seventh in the Premier League table

Oliver Glasner's side made it two wins in four days after their victory over Liverpool in midweek

It is turning out to be some season for Mateta. Having made his debut for France last month, he is now joint-second in the Premier League scoring charts after his goal here took him to six strikes in 10 games.

But, in recent weeks he has faced criticism for his wastefulness. The Frenchman was guilty of costly misses in defeats by AEK Larnaca and Everton - and he even underperformed his xG when he netted a hat-trick against Bournemouth last month.

Yet, he offers so much to this team, and his all-round game continues to improve. His brilliant first half header was his 33rd strike in 61 top flight games under Oliver Glasner and he gave Collins a torrid afternoon.

Jean-Philippe Mateta silenced his recent critics with a brilliant first half header for the Eagles

This game had been dubbed the battle of the long throws by some given these two sides are the most prolific from such situations since the start of last season.

For Brentford, Michael Kayode was launching his rockets, while Jefferson Lerma held that responsibility for Palace, and it was the latter who had the last laugh.

Just minutes into the second half, the Colombian caused panic in the Brentford defence and Collins could only nod past Caoimhin Kelleher to kill any hope of a Brentford comeback.

Jefferson Lerma's second half throw in caused chaos and Nathan Collins scored an own goal

It was a frustrating day for Brentford who struggled to create many clear-cut chances

Much had been made ahead of kick off about how despite the pre-season doom-mongering surrounding Brentford, they headed into this clash on the back of three successive wins in all competitions by an aggregate score of 10-2 - and were level on points with Palace.

But they barely mustered an effort on target and the hosts, who are so well-drilled, nullified their in-form attack with ease to secure their eighth clean sheet of the season in all competitions.

‘We were below-par in the performance level,' Bees boss Keith Andrews said. 'They're a very difficult team to break down and it's a tricky place to come to, but I don’t feel like there was a lot in the game.'