By OkayGoal
Brighton beat ten-man Brentford 2-0 at the Amex on Sunday, with Diego Gomez’s 25-yard strike and a Pascal Gross penalty either side of Igor Thiago’s red card sending Fabian Hurzeler’s side into the international break second in the Premier League.
The win lifts Brighton above Manchester City, one point clear of City and five behind leaders Arsenal. It was also their 11th clean sheet of the season in all competitions, and their first home game after five in a row on the road.
For Brentford, the afternoon was meant to be a celebration. It was the club’s 200th Premier League game. Instead Keith Andrews was left talking about a side that “gave them a leg-up” with the sending-off and the penalty.
How did Brighton beat Brentford?
With one moment of real quality first. On 15 minutes Michael Kayode headed Costinha’s cross away from the Brentford box, but only as far as Gomez, 25 yards out. He shifted the ball onto his left foot and, with barely any backlift, drove it into the top corner. Caoimhin Kelleher never moved.
It might have been 2-0 almost straight away. Brighton’s press forced another turnover, Gross slipped Charalampos Kostoulas through on a three-on-one break, and the striker’s shot was too close to Kelleher.
Brentford had their own chances before the opener. Sepp van den Berg’s long ball sent Thiago clear of Lewis Dunk, but his lob was too weak to trouble Bart Verbruggen, and Kristoffer Ajer headed a Keane Lewis-Potter corner onto the roof of the net.
Why was Igor Thiago sent off?
Midway through the first half, Thiago and Chema Andres tangled in midfield and the Brighton midfielder went down holding his face. Referee Michael Oliver booked both players, but VAR sent him to the pitchside monitor, and the yellow for Thiago became a straight red for violent conduct, for thrusting his arm into Chema’s face.
That left Brentford in a low block for more than an hour, and the second goal arrived four minutes before the break. As a corner came in, Lewis-Potter grabbed Luka Vuskovic and pulled him to the ground. Pascal Gross hammered the penalty into the top corner, giving Kelleher no chance.
Kelleher still had to push away a swerving Yasin Ayari shot from 20 yards on the stroke of half-time, and the Brentford goalkeeper kept the score down after the break as De Cuyper, Kostoulas and Ayari all went close.
A record for Gross
The penalty took Gross to 87 Premier League goal involvements, 35 goals and 52 assists, according to Opta’s figures. That ties him with Mesut Ozil (33 goals, 54 assists) for the most by a German player in the competition. He is also one game short of 300 appearances for Brighton.
Brentford’s second half
Andrews had made one change from the side that started the previous game, with Aaron Hickey in for Mathias Jensen. At half-time he took off Hickey and Ouattara for Nathan Collins and Yehor Yarmoliuk, and Brentford held a much tighter shape.
They had a brief spell on top midway through the half. Jensen, on as a substitute for his 250th league appearance for the club, swung in two quick corners, and late on Callum Wilson crossed for Kevin Schade, whose stretching effort flew wide. In the last action of the game, Jack Hinshelwood dragged a shot wide from 25 yards at the other end.
There was good news for Hurzeler off the bench too. Yankuba Minteh came on for the last eight minutes, his first appearance at the Amex since the injury he suffered in pre-season.
What did Hurzeler and Andrews say?
Asked whether Brighton’s fans have plenty to look forward to, Hurzeler said: “They should always be excited if they watch our game, and that’s our job to make them excited. And I always say they can dream, they can have high expectations of us, but these are things we can’t control.”
Brighton only got back from their European trip on Friday lunchtime, and the head coach was more interested in the next step than the table. “There are moments and phases in the game where the individual player, but also the whole team, can improve, and that’s the main focus for us,” he said.
Gross was even blunter about the title talk. “No. We are not in a title race,” he said. “But we have started the season really well. It’s the beginning of the season though.”
Andrews, meanwhile, said: “It’s a difficult place to come. The way they’re playing, it was always going to require a very good performance to get what we wanted from the game. We obviously gave them a leg-up with the sending-off and the penalty. It then becomes very difficult. We need to learn from that, grow as a group and react in better ways.”
Ajer called Gomez’s opener “a wonder goal” and said the half-time message was “fight and spirit, which I think we showed”, while admitting Brentford “weren’t really close to getting back into the game.”
Brighton 2-0 Brentford verdict: are Albion contenders?
Gross can say no all he likes, but this did not look like a side hanging on. Brighton dominated a team that had come to the Amex with a clear plan, and the worrying part for everyone above and below them is that they could have won by more.
The squad is coping with a European schedule too. Hurzeler’s side were sharp two days after landing from a European away trip, and Chema, who we expected back in our Brighton predicted lineup vs Brentford, started in midfield before Mats Wieffer replaced him at half-time.
Five points off Arsenal after ten games is not a title race yet, Gross is right about that. But with Gomez hitting goals like this and a 35-year-old still running the midfield, the Champions League test set for them earlier this month already looks like it is being passed. Brentford, meanwhile, will have the international break to think about a costly afternoon, and a suspension for Thiago to come.