Ivan Toney stole the headlines on his return as Brentford edged past Nottingham Forest in a five-goal thriller at the Gtech Community Stadium to end their run of five successive defeats.
The Brentford striker scored the opening goal after his eight-month suspension as the Bees fought back to win 3-2 thanks to Neal Maupay’s brilliant goal.
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How the match unfolded
Brentford manager Thomas Frank made four changes on top of Toney’s return, with Ben Mee, Mikkel Damsgaard and Maupay starting.
Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo gave Andrew Omobamidele his first league start for Forest, with Callum Hudson-Odoi, Orel Mangala and Nuno Tavares also coming in.
Forest quickly found an opener seemingly out of nowhere, Danilo controlling a headed clearance from Mee with his thigh before lashing home a volley that dipped beyond Mark Flekken inside the opening three minutes.
Brentford took some time to recover but pulled level a quarter of an hour later. From a free-kick on the edge of the area Toney had no problems curling a low effort round the wall into the bottom corner for his first goal in 266 days, also scored via a free-kick at home to Forest on 29 April last year.
His ability to beat the wall was probably helped by Toney sneakily moving the ball a couple of feet from its original location (see the yellow line in the image below) to create the angle.
Brentford nearly made it two on half an hour when Keane Lewis-Potter crashed a shot against the underside of the bar that then hit Matt Turner in the Forest goal, who stopped it from going over the line before it was eventually cleared.
The hosts started the second half brightly, with Lewis-Potter the man with a couple of chances, both of which he spurned.
The pressure from Brentford eventually paid off in the 58th minute when Mee, on his 50th appearance for the club, met a Mathias Jensen corner to power a header beyond Turner at the near post.
Brentford’s lead did not last for long however, Chris Wood glancing an inswinging Hudson-Odoi cross into the far corner.
The visitors almost instantly found a third, Wood laying off a good ball to Mangala whose first-time shot was wide.
That miss proved costly as less than a minute later, Brentford retook the lead in brilliant fashion.
Mads Roerslev whipped in a low cross that Maupay controlled well before turning his marker and powering in a low shot.
A first Brentford win in the Premier League since 2 December takes them up to 14th on 22 points, two more than Nott’m Forest who fall to 16th, only four points from the relegation zone.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
38 | -11 | 40 |
| 16 |
Brentford
BRE
|
38 | -9 | 39 |
| 17 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
38 | -18 | 32 |
| 18 |
Luton
LUT
|
38 | -33 | 26 |
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Key facts
Toney has scored in four consecutive home league appearances for Brentford for the first time since November 2020 in the Championship. His direct free kick goal was his third in the Premier League since the start of last season – the joint-most of any player in this period (also three by James Ward-Prowse).
Toney has scored in all four his league appearances against Nott'm Forest (four goals) – the opponent he’s faced most in his league career while scoring in 100% of them.
Nott'm Forest have dropped 19 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, with only Brentford (20) having lost more.
Nott'm Forest have scored six goals in the opening five minutes of Premier League games this season, at least three times as many as any other side (Arsenal, Bournemouth, Burnley and Man Utd all on two).
Including two today, Nott'm Forest have conceded 11 goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season (excluding penalties) – the most of any team.
