MY ACCOUNT
Ivan Toney netted twice late on as Brentford claimed a 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Burnley.
With the scores level in the 85th minute, Christian Eriksen — making his third Premier League appearance for the Bees — whipped in a superb cross from the left that Toney nodded past Nick Pope.
Nathan Collins was then sent off in the second minute of stoppage time for a last-man challenge on Toney in the box and the striker dusted himself off to coolly dispatch the spot-kick.
Defeat for Sean Dyche’s men sees them miss the chance to move above Everton and out of the drop zone, remaining a point behind the Toffees in 18th.
Match-winner Toney was bullish about Brentford’s survival hopes this season and picked Eriksen out for praise.
He said: “It’s a massive step [towards safety]. Everyone was putting our name in the hat for relegation but we don’t listen to that.
“Results haven’t been going our way but we haven’t lost desire. The team we have in the dressing room is more than capable of staying in the Premier League.
“I feel like with a player like Christian Eriksen you have to stay focused at all times. I don’t think I had a shot before I scored today. I can’t thank him enough for being in the squad and helping us.”
Burnley defender James Tarkowski revealed his frustration with his side’s performance in both penalty areas.
He said: “We had chances, they had a couple. They got the goal at the end late on so disappointing but no time to panic. It wasn’t a bad performance but not our greatest.
“We can’t let any player break into the box like that, especially someone of [Christian Eriksen’s] quality. We’ve given away too many cheap goals like that this season which needs to stop. We need to be better once again in both boxes. We have a lot more than that.
“There are plenty of teams who have to pick up points but we’ll just concentrate on ourselves. No time to panic. Plenty of games left. We need to start putting more points on the board.”
Did you know?
Brentford have won consecutive Premier League games for the first time, while it’s the first time they’ve won consecutive top-flight matches since September 1946.
Burnley have suffered three consecutive Premier League defeats for the first time since losing five in a row between May and August 2021.
Toney has scored seven goals in his last five Premier League appearances, after having scored just four goals in his first 19 games this season for Brentford.
Toney has scored five goals in his last two appearances for Brentford, becoming the first player to score more than once in consecutive Premier League outings for a newly promoted side since Dwight Gayle in May 2014 for Crystal Palace.
Eriksen registered his first Premier League assist since December 2019, when he assisted Jan Vertonghen’s winning goal against Wolves for Tottenham. Since his first appearance in the competition in September 2013, only Kevin De Bruyne (80) has more assists in the competition than Eriksen (63).
Collins became the first Burnley player to be sent off in the Premier League since January 2019, when Robbie Brady saw red against Huddersfield Town, ending a run of 119 league games without the Clarets having a player sent off.
