Brentford 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion: Ivan Toney underlines England credentials with two goals

Ivan Toney scores

Ivan Toney underlined his England credentials with two goals as Brentford returned to winning ways against Brighton in the Premier League.

While Brighton have enjoyed several excellent results on their travels this season, they struggled for fluidity and incisiveness against high-energy opponents led superbly by Toney on his 100th appearance for the Bees.

The hosts had already seen Bryan Mbeumo’s improvised volley cannon off the visitors’ crossbar by the time Toney opened the scoring with a wonderful backheeled flick from Frank Onyeka’s pass from the right.

With Brighton searching for an equaliser after the break, Toney then doubled their advantage, going down under Joel Veltman’s crude challenge from behind and getting up to convert his eighth successive top-flight penalty.

The result sees Thomas Frank’s side move up to eighth in the table, a place and a point behind the Seagulls, who are yet to win under new manager Roberto de Zerbi.

Toney was called into the England squad for September’s Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany but was not used by Gareth Southgate.

However, on current form he is making a compelling case for a place on the plane to Qatar for the upcoming World Cup with only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (15) having now scored more Premier League goals than the Bees centre-forward, who has eight.

Brentford bounce back

With heavy defeats against Arsenal and Newcastle either side of a scoreless draw at Bournemouth, Brentford served up the perfect response in front of their passionate home support.

Both De Zerbi and Frank were booked for an altercation in the technical area and on the pitch Brentford mirrored their manager’s aggression.

Toney, Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa set the tone early on, pressuring the Brighton defence and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez into several mistakes when attempting to play out from the back.

At that stage the opening was also notable for the constant and warm vocal tribute paid by Brighton’s travelling fans to midfielder Enock Mwepu, who was forced to retire aged 24 this week because of a hereditary heart condition .

While Brighton had chances to go in front from a tame Danny Welbeck header and most notably Veltman’s close-range shot from a corner, there was also an absence of the spark that saw them score three at Anfield earlier this month.

To underline the point, the Seagulls had more than 70% possession and had registered 21 shots by the full-time whistle, but aside from Adam Lallana’s late header, rarely looked like making the breakthrough.

“To win a game you have to score,” said De Zerbi. “We don’t find the goals. We lose too many second balls, too many duels. We made mistakes about shooting, about the last pass, about crosses. But this is the right way for us.

“We have to do more. We have to improve, to learn, to understand.”

Brentford and Toney made the most of their opportunities, scoring twice from just three efforts on target. Mads Roerslev could have added further gloss to a fine victory but he saw his effort cleared off the line after Sanchez had been unable to claim a cross.

Player of the match

ToneyIvan Toney

with an average of 7.99

Brentford

  1. Squad number17Player nameToney

    Average rating

    7.99

  2. Squad number1Player nameRaya

    Average rating

    7.26

  3. Squad number19Player nameMbeumo

    Average rating

    6.77

  4. Squad number3Player nameHenry

    Average rating

    6.55

  5. Squad number16Player nameMee

    Average rating

    6.40

  6. Squad number15Player nameOnyeka

    Average rating

    6.40

  7. Squad number26Player nameBaptiste

    Average rating

    6.31

  8. Squad number10Player nameDasilva

    Average rating

    6.29

  9. Squad number11Player nameWissa

    Average rating

    6.27

  10. Squad number30Player nameRoerslev

    Average rating

    6.23

  11. Squad number7Player nameCanós

    Average rating

    6.20

  12. Squad number27Player nameJanelt

    Average rating

    6.18

  13. Squad number5Player namePinnock

    Average rating

    6.17

  14. Squad number8Player nameJensen

    Average rating

    6.17

  15. Squad number14Player nameGhoddos

    Average rating

    6.08

  16. Squad number20Player nameAjer

    Average rating

    6.03

Brighton & Hove Albion

  1. Squad number25Player nameCaicedo

    Average rating

    6.73

  2. Squad number7Player nameMarch

    Average rating

    6.53

  3. Squad number10Player nameMac Allister

    Average rating

    6.46

  4. Squad number22Player nameMitoma

    Average rating

    6.45

  5. Squad number5Player nameDunk

    Average rating

    6.37

  6. Squad number18Player nameWelbeck

    Average rating

    6.36

  7. Squad number11Player nameTrossard

    Average rating

    6.34

  8. Squad number1Player nameSánchez

    Average rating

    6.32

  9. Squad number4Player nameWebster

    Average rating

    6.25

  10. Squad number34Player nameVeltman

    Average rating

    6.25

  11. Squad number30Player nameEstupiñán

    Average rating

    6.14

  12. Squad number13Player nameGroß

    Average rating

    5.78

  13. Squad number14Player nameLallana

    Average rating

    5.75

  14. Squad number21Player nameUndav

    Average rating

    5.16

Line-ups

Brentford

Formation 4-3-3

  • 1Raya
  • 20Ajer
  • 5Pinnock
  • 16Mee
  • 3HenrySubstituted forGhoddosat 87′minutes
  • 15OnyekaSubstituted forBaptisteat 71′minutesBooked at 90mins
  • 27Janelt
  • 8JensenBooked at 45minsSubstituted forDasilvaat 80′minutes
  • 19MbeumoSubstituted forCanósat 80′minutes
  • 17ToneyBooked at 90mins
  • 11WissaSubstituted forRoerslevat 71′minutes

Substitutes

  • 7Canós
  • 10Dasilva
  • 13M Jorgensen
  • 14Ghoddos
  • 23Lewis-Potter
  • 24Damsgaard
  • 26Baptiste
  • 30Roerslev
  • 34Cox

Brighton

Formation 4-4-2

  • 1Sánchez
  • 34Veltman
  • 4Webster
  • 5Dunk
  • 30EstupiñánSubstituted forMitomaat 45′minutes
  • 7March
  • 10Mac Allister
  • 25CaicedoBooked at 45mins
  • 11TrossardSubstituted forUndavat 69′minutes
  • 18Welbeck
  • 13GroßSubstituted forLallanaat 68′minutes

Substitutes

  • 2Lamptey
  • 14Lallana
  • 19Sarmiento
  • 20Enciso
  • 21Undav
  • 22Mitoma
  • 23Steele
  • 27Gilmour
  • 43Turns

Referee:
Michael Salisbury

Match Stats

Live Text

Post update

Match ends, Brentford 2, Brighton and Hove Albion 0.

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