Brentford claim derby win over Fulham

ON THE SPOT: Brentford's Ivan Toney celebrates scoring his sides second goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium, London. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire

Brentford 3 Fulham 2

Brentford took revenge for their earlier season defeat by west London rivals Fulham, strengthening their hopes of qualifying for Europe while denting Fulham’s chances of also doing so in the process.

Manor Solomon’s equaliser following Ethan Pinnock’s fortunate opener proved in vain as Ivan Toney struck his 15th Premier League goal of the season from the spot and Mathias Jensen added a late third to put their side just a point behind their rivals having played two games fewer.

Substitute Carlos Vinicius did tap in a late consolation goal by following up Andreas Pereira’s saved strike but it proved too late for Fulham to salvage anything from the game.

Brentford had not played in 16 days due to last weekend’s game with Manchester United being suspended because of the Carabao Cup final, but they showed no signs of rust to start the game and took the lead on six minutes when Ethan Pinnock’s effort took a big deflection off Tim Ream and beyond a helpless Bernd Leno.

They could already have found themselves two up prior to taking the lead, Bryan Mbeumo first spurning a golden opportunity on two minutes when he somehow put the ball wide at the back post after being found unmarked by Rico Henry’s low cross from the left.

And it was Mbeumo who missed another great chance moments before the Bees took a deserved lead, seeing his low shot denied by the foot of Leno after being sent through on goal by Mikel Damsgaard.

Mbeumo would go close a third time before Fulham equalised when he saw his whipped free-kick skim off the post, while Ivan Toney also saw a free-kick come off the woodwork from a similar position.

Fulham dominated the ball in the first half though struggled to create much of note, with the central defensive partnership of Ben Mee and Pinnock repelling any balls into the box.

That was until Solomon struck again, his fifth goal in the last five games, to put the Whites level. After Pereira saw his free-kick come back off the bar, Solomon reacted quickest to head home from close range on the rebound.

Solomon has found a rich vein of form since returning from a knee injury which had sidelined him for half of the season, and with his stay at Fulham only a temporary one from Shakhtar Donetsk, he will no doubt have plenty of options come the summer should he continue in this way.

But the Bees would regain the lead moments after the restart when a wild swing at the ball from Issa Diop caught Christian Norgaard in the box.

You would have to go back to 2018 to find the last time Toney missed a spot-kick, a League One tie between his former club Peterborough United and Barnsley, and the striker duly tucked it away.

Jensen would then add another for the Bees before full-time, slotting beyond Leno from substitute Kevin Schade’s cut-back.

And while Vinicius gave the home crowd a nervous final couple of minutes, Jensen’s goal proved to have made sure of a big boost not only to Brentford’s European hopes, but of winning the battle for west London supremacy too.

Brentford (4-3-3): Raya 7, Hickey 6 (Roerslev 90’), Pinnock 8, Mee 8, Henry 7, Jensen 7, Norgaard 7, Damsgaard 6 (Janelt 76’), Mbeumo 5 (Dasilva 90’), Toney 7, Wissa 6 (Schade 76’). 

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno 6, Tete 6 (Soares 83’), Diop 5, Ream 6, Robinson 5, Reed 6, Lukic 6 (De Cordova-Reid 75’), Willian 6 (Vinicius 83’), Pereira 6, Solomon 7 (Wilson 75’), Mitrovic 6. 

Referee: Anthony Taylor 5.