Wolves vs Brentford LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction today
Relive all the action from Molineux
Ivan Toney inspired Brentford to their first away win in the top flight for 74 years with a 2-0 victory at Wolves.
Toney almost moved to Molineux from Northampton as a teenager in 2014, the move collapsing when he failed a medical, so it was perhaps inevitable he would star as Wolves slumped to a fourth straight home Premier League defeat.
The 25-year-old had a goal, an assist and two disallowed in the first half alone as a clinical Brentford side got their first top-flight win since beating Leeds 2-1 in 1947, with Bryan Mbeumo also on target.
A second-half red card for Shandon Baptiste threatened to spoil Brentford’s afternoon, but, even though Wolves finished on top, they failed to score for a fourth league match out of five this season. Relive all the action below:
Wolves vs Brentford
Brentford’s 15-match unbeaten league run was ended by Brighton last weekend and the Bees are hoping to bounce back against Wolves today.
A clean sheet would ensure Brentford become the first side since Everton in 1992 to only concede twice in their first five matches in the Premier League.
But, at the other end of the pitch only Norwich have had fewer shots on target in the Premier League this season than the nine by Brentford.
Wolves vs Brentford
Their 2-0 win at Watford last weekend ended a run of six straight league defeats for Wolves. However, they could lose a fourth consecutive home league fixture for the first time in nearly five years if Brentford are victorious today.
Wolves’ eight Premier League home defeats in 2021 is the most among the division’s current teams.
Bruno Lage on turning performances into points
Wolves boss, Bruno Lage, has been pleased with his team’s performances this season but they have only won one game out of the four they’ve played. The biggest for Lage is trying to turn those good performances into points. He said:
“It’s very important. I believe the work we are doing in the weekend, comes in the way we are training, but it has to come from them. If the players don’t want, then we cannot work miracles. The main point is that the players want to work and they want to train in the way we are playing, and the performance comes because we are training well.
“I never saw a team during the week that didn’t do the right things. The consequences of what we did during the games comes from training during the week. That’s the one thing I don’t compromise on from anyone.
“We start the first two or three days, we work on the little things we have to improve, and in the end, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the things we have to do to win the next match. The next game is the most important for us, we need to do it like we did last week.
“We have been working with these guys five or six weeks, so after Watford, we don’t change anything. We come to training with the same ambition – when you are winning, you continue to improve things, you want to improve things.
“We want the players to arrive in the position to create more chances, we want to press in a different way, we want to improve every time. Every time after a game, during the week we try to improve. The next step is to have a good week of training and continue with the same process, continue to grow up as a team.”
Thomas Frank on Wolves
Brentford boss, Thomas Frank, spoke in the build-up to the game about Wolves, their quality and how he plans to handle the game. He said:
“Defensively we need to be good; we need to press well, low and high. Wolves’ biggest threat for me is their half and big transitions with the massive pace of [Adama] Traore, [Francisco] Trincao, and [Raul] Jimenez. Their two midfielders are fantastic on the ball. Those transitions are where we need to be bang on if we want to get anything from the game.
“We are going to Wolves who are a very good side and are well established in the Premier League. I faced them as an Assistant Manager four years ago and I thought they were brilliant under Nuno. Bruno Lage has kept the momentum going.
“They only have one win from four but, for me, looking through the four matches, they were closer to winning two of the three matches than losing them. Against Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Manchester United, all top six teams I would say, they performed very well and were very unlucky.
“They are massive favourites but we believe in ourselves. I believe that we can go and get something if we hit a high performance level. We have been very consistent in our performances so far. That makes me believe that we can continue to do some great stuff.”
Wolves vs Brentford
Wolves are unbeaten in the last four league meetings between the teams. Their most recent encounter ended in a 3-0 win at Molineux in January 2018.
Brentford’s solitary victory in five away league games against Wolves this century came in the Championship in October 2015, they’ve also drawn once and lost three times away from home.
None of the 10 top-flight meetings between these teams have been drawn, with both sides recording five wins apiece.
‘We’re not Man City’: Thomas Frank plays down Brentford’s scoring record
Brentford boss Thomas Frank says he is not worried by his side’s lack of goals and insisted “we’re not Manchester City or Chelsea”.
The newly-promoted Bees have made a solid start to life in the Premier League with five points from their opening four matches.
However, they have scored only one goal in their last three games and managed just nine shots on target so far, pushing strike duo Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo into the spotlight.
‘We’re not Man City’: Thomas Frank plays down Brentford’s scoring record
The Bees have scored just once in their last three games and managed nine shots on target.
Wolves vs Brentford - Team news
Bruno Lage names an unchanged Wolves team for the fourth game in a row. Wolves have been pretty consistent over the course of the season but fell short in their first three games where they lost by one goal to nil. Last time they responded with a 2-0 victory over Watford and the manager will hope they record their second win of the season today.
Brentford are in a similar position. Thomas Frank’s side have been really solid defensively only conceding two goals in their four games so far. Last time out though Leandro Trossard found a way through in the 90th minute to give Brighton the win but Frank doesn’t see that defeat as a reason to change things up.
Wolves vs Brentford - Team news
Both teams are unchanged.
Wolves XI: Sa; Kilman, Coady, Saiss; Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Marcal; Trincao, Jimenez, Adama
Brentford XI: Raya; Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock; Canos, Baptiste, Norgaard, Janelt, Henry; Mbeumo, Toney
Wolves vs Brentford - Recent results
Wolves ended a three-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over Watford last weekend. Francisco Sierralta scored a second half own-goal to put the visitors in front before Hwang Hee-chan came off the bench to add a second and give Wolves their first goal of the season and their first win. They come into this game in 13th place and could move into the top ten with a victory against Brentford in today’s early kick off.
Brentford start the day 10th place after having got their first Premier League campaign off to the perfect start with a 2-0 win over Arsenal on the opening day. Since then, they’ve notched up two draws against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa but their progress was halted last time out. Leandro Trossard scored in the 90th minute for Brighton to give the Seagulls a 1-0 victory and inflict a first defeat on Brentford in the league.
Early team news
Wolves have no major concerns and are expected to name an unchanged team for the fourth game in a row.
Possible inclusions could be Daniel Podence and Hwang Hee-chan who both came off the bench against Watford with the latter scoring his debut goal for the club.
Josh Dasilva is still absent for Brentford with no signs of him returning anytime soon. However, Frank Onyenka returned from a coronavirus enforced absence in Brentford’s last game versus Brighton and is in contention to start for the Bees today.
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