Key stats
- The last team to beat Brentford at the Gtech in the Premier League prior to Sunday was Manchester City, who won 1-0 on the 5th of October.
- This is the 28th time a Sean Dyche team has led at half-time in a Premier League away match, and Dyche has only suffered one defeat among all of them - a 3-2 loss at Aston Villa while in charge of Everton in September 2024 (led 2-1 at HT).
- Nottingham Forest are unbeaten in their last 15 Premier League matches when leading at half-time (W14, D1) dating back to 10th November 2024 when they lost 3-1 to Newcastle United (L1-3).
Analysis
Brentford had the run of the game for practically the entirety of the second half, but they were unable to score against the stubborn defence of Forest.
Match report
After West Ham’s victory yesterday, pressure was cranked up on Forest here, but they certainly rose to it in the opening stages. Sean Dyche’s men started on the offensive and reaped the rewards of a fine start when cup specialist Igor Jesus endeared himself to the PL.
Jesus only had one top-flight goal to his name this term, but he doubled that tally inside the opening 15 minutes when he plucked the ball out of the sky inside the area and arrowed into the far corner on the swivel.
The Tricky Trees were unwilling to rest on their laurels and almost doubled their advantage soon after when Ibrahim Sangaré caressed an effort inches wide of the target.
Keith Andrews’ men were forced into a double change in the first half when both Mikkel Damsgaard and Kristoffer Ajer were struck down by injuries. Dango Ouattara was brought on in place of the Dane, and he almost made an immediate impact when he burst in behind and saw an effort repelled by the legs of Matz Sels.
The Forest stopper was powerless when Michael Kayode hurled a long throw into the area on the stroke of HT though, when to his relief, substitute Sepp van den Berg saw his header brush the side netting.
Brentford certainly didn’t come out for the second half playing like a side who looked likely to get back on level terms, nor one who were unbeaten at home in the league since October.
The game had gone stale after HT and it looked to be slipping away from the Bees, and it took them until the 75th minute to manufacture a meaningful sighting of goal, and even when they did, their key man Igor Thiago poked an effort well over the bar at the far post.
The hosts’ lack of cutting edge was punished in brutal fashion 10 minutes from time too, when Forest sprung a lightning-quick counter attack and substitute Taiwo Awoniyi slotted an effort beneath Caoimhin Kelleher to register his first Forest goal in a year.
Withdrawing Callum Hudson-Odoi for Morato in the last five minutes was a sure-fire sign that Dyche knew his side’s work for the day was done and he was happy to shut up shop, a decision perhaps fast-tracked by Ouattara’s glaring miss from six yards just moments prior.
Victory helped Forest reestablish their five-point cushion to the bottom three and stretch their unbeaten league run to three matches. It’s a much different story for Brentford though, who have now lost successive PL games as their momentum starts to wane.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ibrahim Sangaré (Nottingham Forest)
Post-match comments
Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche was pleased to be the one to mastermind Brentford's first home Premier League loss in over three months.
"Resilience was the most pleasing aspect, Brentford have been brilliant at home," he told BBC Match of the Day.
"It was a game of two halves. We put pressure on in the first half and had to contain them in the second.
"They had a fast start and it's not an easy task but you have to find a balance between defending resolutely and hitting on the attack."
The result means Forest have restored a five-point gap over relegation rivals West Ham in 18th place, but Dyche said he and his side would not be distracted by what happens elsewhere.
"We can't do anything about other people, it's just about ourselves," he said.
Brentford manager Keith Andrews was unhappy with the manner in which his side conceded, given how well they had controlled other aspects of the game.
"The way we conceded the goals doesn't sit well with me," he told Sky Sports.
"We controlled large parts of the game, although we lost our way a bit after conceding the first.
"For large parts of the game I was content but you can't concede goals like that.
"Forest got the game they wanted, able to sit in and hit on the counter. We look at ourselves first and shouldn't be conceding that goal. If we're being critical and honest with each other it wasn't good enough.
"I was pleased with two-thirds of the performance today but we live and die by results. We need to be more clinical in both sides of the game."