Brentford 3 – 0 Burnley. Brentford claimed their first home win of the season as spectacular goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Saman Ghoddos helped the Bees to a valuable three points against struggling Burnley.
Mbeumo steered Neal Maupey’s pass into the top corner just past the hour mark to double the hosts’ lead after Yoana Wissa had broken the deadlock in the first half.
Ghoddos completed the scoring with three minutes remaining, arrowing a powerful shot into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Thomas Frank’s team, who conceded two stoppage time goals at Old Trafford a fortnight ago, got the opener their early dominance deserved when Wissa turned in Mbeumo’s low cross at the far post.
Maupay, making his first Brentford start since May 2019, thought he had given the hosts an eighth-minute lead when he nodded home Nathan Collins’ cutback from a tight angle, but the Frenchman’s header was controversially disallowed for offside against Kristoffer Ajer.
Burnley improved in the second half and should have pulled a goal back when Lyle Foster teed up Luca Koleosho with the score at 2-0, but the teenager somehow scuffed his shot past the post with the goal at his mercy.
Clarets defender Connor Roberts picked up a second yellow card late on after dragging Wissa to the floor, before Ghoddos put the seal on a comfortable Brentford victory.
The Bees move six points clear of the relegation zone, while Burnley remain in the bottom three.
Brentford were minutes away from a famous victory at Manchester United in their last game before the international break, Scott McTominay’s late double condemning the Bees to a 2-1 defeat which manager Frank described as “brutal”.
That was the sixth time this season that Frank’s side had dropped points from a winning position but this time, after Wissa had opened the scoring against Burnley, the hosts managed not only to preserve their lead but added to it – courtesy of two superb efforts.
They could, and perhaps should, have been further ahead by half-time but Maupay, Frank Onyeka and Mbeumo all failed to make the most of opportunities.
Maupay will have felt particularly aggrieved after his early header was disallowed for offside against Ajer – who did not appear to be interfering with play when Mbeumo’s free-kick left his boot.
The Everton loanee also dragged a low shot wide of the far post, had an effort cleared off the line by the retreating Dara O’Shea and had a fierce strike magnificently tipped over the crossbar by Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford.
There was little the 21-year-old could do about Brentford’s second and third goals, however, as the Bees earned their first league win since beating London rivals Fulham more than two months ago.
Burnley registered their first victory of the campaign at Luton in their last away game but the defensive frailties that have plagued the Clarets for much of the season resurfaced at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The visitors were frustrated not to have been awarded a first-half penalty when Mike Tresor went to ground under Onyeka’s challenge, but Brentford – who registered 15 attempts in the first half – would have been out of sight by the interval had it not been for Trafford.
The former Manchester City goalkeeper brilliantly kept out Christian Norgaard’s drive after it had taken a wicked deflection off Wissa, before magnificently tipping Maupay’s goal-bound effort over the bar.
Burnley were their own worst enemy at times, with O’Shea having to slide Maupay’s shot off the line after Ameen Al-Dakhil had carelessly given away possession deep inside the Clarets half.
Vincent Kompany’s team made a brighter start to the second period and should have made it 2-1 through Koleosho, but their hopes of getting anything from the game were all but ended when Roberts was given his marching orders with 12 minutes remaining.
The result means Burnley have lost seven of their opening nine matches in a top-flight campaign for the first time since 1888-89.
source – BBC