Brentford got off to a brilliant start to the Premier League season with a 2-1 win against Crystal Palace.© AFP
Brentford took the absence of Ivan Toney in their stride and started the Premier League season at full steam with a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday. Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa scored the goals for the Bees, who held out England international Toney amid speculation over his future. Toney’s contract with the London club expires in less than a year and he is attracting interest from Saudi clubs after helping England reach the Euro 2024 final. Brentford manager Thomas Frank said before the game that his team showed last season that they can cope without Toney – who missed much of last season due to a betting ban.
Marc Guehi was captain of Crystal Palace despite Newcastle’s interest in him.
The English defender had an outstanding European Championship, but had a moment to forget when Brentford scored the first goal.
Mbeumo ran onto Wissa’s pass, left Guehi out and shot into the far corner.
Palace finished last season in sensational form under Oliver Glasner and will be ashamed of not picking up at least a point.
A brilliantly taken free kick by Eberechi Eze at the near post was wrongly disallowed by Will Hughes for a foul when the score was still 0-0.
Palace’s good start to the second half was rewarded when Ethan Pinnock deflected a Daniel Munoz header into his own goal.
Seconds later, Odsonne Edouard buried a pass from Eze, but it was stopped by a narrow offside decision.
Instead, it was Brentford who scored the decisive third goal.
Dean Henderson could only parry Nathan Collins’ shot and direct it straight into the path of Wissa, who put it into the goal.
Eze was twice denied by Mark Flekken in the closing stages, but Brentford held on to take an impressive three points.
Champions Manchester City begin the defence of their Premier League title later on Sunday with an away match at Chelsea, Enzo Maresca’s first game as manager of the Blues.
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