Brentford have ended their winless streak of 5 consecutive games without victory to claim their second home victory of the season against a poor Everton side who remain without a win in 7 games.

 

The game started rather scrappily with some loose passing from both sides and few chances created, but Brentford and Everton both showed some good passages of play going forwards, especially on the counterattack. The final killer pass was missing however and neither team dominated from the outset. With 22 minutes on the clock, after a string of consecutive corners, Frank Onyeka (returning to the side after only making the bench against Newcastle) was caught in the head with the boot of Andros Townsend and the home side were furious at the referee’s dismissiveness. Play continued for over a minute, with the Bees fans on their feet protesting and demanding Darren England to stop play. Eventually after pressure from the stands and a shout in his ear from VAR no doubt, Jonathan Moss (the designated VAR official) instructed Darren England to look at the monitor and with one short replay his mind was made up and he pointed to the penalty spot. Ivan Toney, who is yet to miss any of his 13 penalties since joining Brentford from Peterborough in 2020, rose to the occasion and never looked like missing, slotting the ball calmly into the bottom left corner without breaking eye contact with Jordan Pickford.

 

The goal was greeted with jubilant cheers and the Brentford Community Stadium was rocking, thrilled to be ahead in what many deemed as a ‘must win’ game after their poor run of form. Everton nearly responded immediately with Alvaro Fernandez denying Salomon Rondon with a close-range stop before Vitaly Janelt was stopped in his tracks by Doucoure to deny him. Brentford then could have gone ahead later in the first half as the ball was swept across the edge of the box to Bryan Mbeumo, who has already hit the crossbar eight times this season, but he could only divert the ball safely into the Everton Goalkeeper’s gloves. Everton never looked like scoring and although they came out after half time with more of the ball, they did not really create very many chances and could not find their way back to the game. Brentford lost their rhythm a bit in the second half with some inaccurate passing and an inability to keep the ball for very long, they invited pressure onto themselves. Everton did not pose much of a threat though with their best chance falling to Alex Iwobi who could not test the keeper from the edge of the box. The London side kept their defensive discipline and managed to see out the win with the help of their fans to secure the all-important 3 points.

 

Thomas Frank was thrilled with the result and told Sky Sports: “It’s a massive win because we haven’t won in five and deserved more in those games. To get the win and to defend at a top level, I’m delighted. It was important that we did that and hopefully this is a win we can now build on.”

 

Brentford now seek back-to-back victories when they travel to North London to take on rivals Tottenham on Thursday night, broadcast on Amazon Prime, where they will face a fresh challenge in Antonio Conte’s side who look to bounce back after a humiliating Europa Conference League to defeat to Slovenian side Mura. Can Brentford follow up their victory on Thursday night or will Tottenham return to winning ways?