Brentford 0 Brighton 0
Thomas Frank has worked wonders in West London since bringing The Bees back into the top-flight. To think fans were calling for his head earlier in the season just shows the fickle nature of football. They welcomed Brighton to the Gtech Community Stadium with points much needed.
Against Man Utd on the weekend, Brentford had more shots than Katie Price on a night out. They started this game in positive fashion, playing some attractive football before Lewis-Potter fed the ball to Wissa. Sadly the striker could only find the side netting with his effort.
Wissa and Toney combined but as he cut inside the defender, he seemed to lose his footing slightly. As a result, his shot was quite a tame effort and easily saved by Verbruggen in the Brighton goal. The Bees were looking like a side pushing for European qualification and not Premier League safety.
Brighton started to come into the game more as the half continued and Lallana fired their first shot at goal from outside the box. Sadly for the former Liverpool midfielder, his effort was always curling away from goal. It had Flekken worried though.
Credit: @BrentfordFC
Baleba then tried an outlandish effort from outside the box but the Brentford keeper got down well to tip it around the post. As the corner came in, there was the usual wrestling in the box that we have become accustomed to. Dunk went to ground, screaming for a penalty.
VAR reviewed the incident and sent the referee to the monitor. Credit where it is due to Andy Madley, unlike many of his work colleagues, he engaged his brain in the decision-making process and opted to stick with his original decision.
From the replay, you could see that Dunk was fouling Wissa before the Brentford striker then retaliated and pulled his shirt, causing him to go to ground. It was no more of a penalty than fining teams who have overspent in the financial year is.
Joao Pedro started to get more supply in the second half and as he twisted and turned in the box, he spotted Veltman at the back post. His cross found him and the full back fired a shot at the far corner but it was always rising over the bar.
Adingra then played the ball into Gross, who laid it off to Enciso. He only had eyes for goal but his effort was straight at Flekken. Brighton will be hoping the Paraguayan can get back to the form he showed before his long lay-off.
He then slotted a sublime ball through The Bees’ defence, into the path of Welbeck. Just as the striker pulled the trigger, Ajer put in a superb sliding challenge to block what seemed to be a certain goal. The defender celebrated with his teammates like they had scored a goal. Levels.
Credit: @BrentfordFC
The Seagulls were dominating the second half. They forced a late corner and Gross picked out Welbeck in the box. He seemed surprised to receive the ball and headed his effort harmlessly wide of the Brentford goal. De Zerbi expected better from his forward.
Both sides shared the points but Brighton will feel they did enough to win this game. That said, they did very little to ask questions of Flekken in the Brentford goal. The Bees extended the gap between themselves and Luton to six points.
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