Thomas Frank's Brentford took one step closer to a top-half Premier League finish after beating Brighton & Hove Albion 4-2 at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Bees had the better of the opening phases, and they made their dominance count when left-back Keane Lewis-Potter played in Bryan Mbeumo with a defence-splitting pass for the star forward to put his side ahead with just nine minutes on the clock.
Fabian Hurzeler's Seagulls struggled to make inroads for much of the first 45 but eventually cracked the hosts' defence seconds before the interval through a Danny Welbeck header.
However, Brentford started the second period even quicker than they did the first, and Mbeumo restored their lead just three minutes after the restart, with Yoane Wissa adding a third before the hour mark.
To make matters worse for the visitors, Joao Pedro was sent off with almost a third of the match left to play for lashing out with an elbow towards opposition centre-back Nathan Collins.
Kaoru Mitoma pulled one back for Brighton late on to set up a tense finish, but Frank's men breathed a collective sigh of relief when Christian Norgaard made it 4-2 in stoppage time, and the Bees picked up a hard-fought three points.
SPORTS MOLE'S VERDICT
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Brentford earned their first win in four matches with an impressive display on Saturday, and boss Frank will be delighted that his team survived a late scare to secure their deserved victory.
Three points this weekend has brought them to 46 for the season, and now that they are just two points behind their 10th-placed opponents and ninth-placed Fulham, they will have their sights set on making the top 10.
Once again, the dynamic duo of Mbeumo and Wissa were on hand to spearhead the Bees' attack, and both players also assisted each other; it will be difficult for Brentford to keep them together ahead of what looks set to be a major summer transfer window in the Premier League.
As for Brighton, they are now without a win for six games across all competitions, and after their impressive run of six consecutive victories between February and early March, they have hit a stumbling block.
Regardless of the result, everybody will be hoping for the best for centre-back Paul van Hecke, who went off on a stretcher with a nasty injury in stoppage time.
BRENTFORD VS. BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION HIGHLIGHTS
9th min: Brentford 1-0 Brighton & Hove Albion (Bryan Mbeumo)
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Brentford work the ball quickly from defence to attack in trademark fashion, with left-back Lewis-Potter receiving an incisive pass before driving into midfield and picking out Mbeumo with an excellent through ball, and the right-forward finds the bottom-left corner to open the scoring.
45+3 min: Brentford 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (Danny Welbeck)
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Brighton's Yankuba Minteh dribbles towards the touchline on the right-hand side of the Bees' box but finds his path blocked and lays off a pass to Mats Weiffer, who clips in a cross to Welbeck, and the veteran striker overpowers Norgaard to head home a leveller just before the break!
48th min: Brentford 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (Bryan Mbeumo)
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The hosts recover the ball in midfield after some sloppy play from the Seagulls, and Mikkel Damsgaard plays a fine pass to Wissa on the right-hand side of the box, where the versatile forward sets the ball for Mbeumo to cut inside and strike beyond Bart Verbruggen into the bottom-left corner.
58th min: Brentford 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (Yoane Wissa)
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After blocking a cross on the edge of his own box, Wissa runs almost the entire length of the pitch during a quick counter-attack to get on the end of a cut-back from Mbeumo just inside the Brighton penalty area, and the deflection on his first-time strike gives the goalkeeper no chance to react before the ball hits the back of the net.
61st min: Joao Pedro (Brighton & Hove Albion) red card
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81st min: Brentford 3-2 Brighton & Hove Albion (Kaoru Mitoma)
As Collins steps out to close down a potential shot on the edge of the Brentford box, Mitoma slips behind him with a clever run, and finds the bottom-right corner with an equally clever reverse finish when Jack Hinshelwood's pass squeezes through to him 10 yards out.
Can Brighton find one more? Game on!
90+5 min: Brentford 4-2 Brighton & Hove Albion (Christian Norgaard)
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Norgaard makes up for failing to stop Welbeck's first-half equaliser by breaking the tension and sealing the game for the hosts with a header into the bottom-left corner after being picked out by an excellent Mathias Jensen free kick from the right-hand touchline.
MAN OF THE MATCH - BRYAN MBEUMO
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With two goals and an assist this weekend, Mbeumo was once again the key man for Brentford, and along with his partner in crime, Wissa, he made the afternoon a restless one for Brighton.
It is no wonder that the versatile 25-year-old is attracting attention from some of the division's biggest clubs when he consistently puts in performances that prove to be decisive.
BRENTFORD VS. BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION MATCH STATS
Possession: Brentford 46%-44% Brighton & Hove Albion
Shots: Brentford 16-12 Brighton & Hove Albion
Shots on target: Brentford 8-3 Brighton & Hove Albion
Corners: Brentford 4-8 Brighton & Hove Albion
Fouls: Brentford 7-11 Brighton & Hove Albion
BEST STATS
18 - Today is the 18th Premier League game in which both Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa have scored for Brentford - only seven pairs of players have scored for a side in the same match more times in the entire history of the competition. Sharing. pic.twitter.com/JN4dV4S3K5
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 19, 2025
WHAT NEXT?
Up next for Brentford is a trip to face high-flying Nottingham Forest at the start of May, while Brighton will welcome West Ham United to the Amex Stadium next Saturday.
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