Brentford 3 – 2 Fulham

Ivan Toney’s penalty helped Brentford beat west London rivals Fulham 3-2 at the Gtech Community Stadium to move to within one point of their seventh-placed neighbours in the Premier League table.

In a thrilling first half, Ethan Pinnock’s deflected shot (6) was Brentford’s fastest-ever goal in the Premier League, although they could have already hit the net several times by then after a rapid start to the derby.

Bryan Mbeumo, culpable for a glaring miss in the opening moments, had grazed a post with a free-kick, and Toney clipped the bar with his own set-piece strike later in the half. But fortune favoured Fulham when Andreas Pereira’s free-kick came back off the post for Manor Solomon to mark his first Premier League start with his fifth goal in five games across all competitions.

The visitors had luck on their side again on the stroke of half-time when Sasa Lukic – back on the field after Toney caught him in the face with his boot – tripped Yoane Wissa but was not shown a second yellow card.

Issa Diop did not escape punishment when he caught Christian Norgaard’s boot in the box after the restart, though, and Toney – perfect from the spot – rolled home his 15th Premier League goal of the season (53).

He almost grabbed another when he tried to lob Bernd Leno from the centre circle but it was Mathias Jensen who sealed victory and ensured Brentford’s impressive unbeaten run would stretch to 12 games in the Premier League, tucking in after a brilliant run from sub Kevin Schade (85). Carlos Vinicius converted a rebound from Pereira’s shot deep into stoppage time (90+9) but it was too little too late for Fulham.

It was the first time Fulham had conceded more than once in a league game since November and, with confidence flowing through this Brentford side now, Marco Silva’s side have the in-form Bees buzzing right behind them in the race for a surprise European spot.

More to follow…

What’s next?

Sunday 12th March 1:00pm


Kick off 2:00pm

Brentford travel to Everton in the Premier League next Saturday at 3pm before making the trip to Southampton on March 15 at 7.30pm.

Up next for Fulham is a Premier League home match against Arsenal next Sunday at 2pm, live on Sky Sports. They then travel to Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals the following weekend.