Correlation FC

Thiago double leads Bees to 3-1 win over United

The Bees bounced back well from last week's defeat at Fulham, with a 3-1 victory against Manchester United. Igor Thiago scored a pair of first-half goals, Mathias Jensen added one more in injury time, and the team mostly kept United's expensive new frontline quiet across the 90 minutes. The Bees are still undefeated at home in 2025-26.

Let's revisit our pre-game predictions.

Prediction #1

Brentford will take at least one point against United.

Correct.

Prediction #2

The Bees will own the 12:30 time slot and win the game against United.

Correct. Can we have every game at 12:30, please?

Prediction #3

Brentford will have their best home game attendance of the season so far against United.

Correct. The official attendance was 17,193, the best of the season so far, and above their Premier League average against United.

Trends that continued

Thiago's goal scoring

Thiago scored a pair of very different goals in the first 20 minutes. The first came from a well-timed run and an excellent long pass from Jordan Henderson. Thiago showed his speed and finishing ability with an unstoppable long shot from the outside of his left foot. The second goal came as a result of some great team play and ultimately a determined striker's finish from close range after the United keeper couldn't completely control Kevin Schade's ball across the mouth of the goal. Thiago finished the game with 4 league goals, which places him second behind Manchester City's Erling Haaland. The two will face each other next weekend.

Brentford's goals vs Manchester United (source Correlation FC)

Penalty save

After a Nathan Collins foul on Bryan Mbeumo in the box, Caoimhin Kelleher was called on to face Bruno Fernandes from the penalty spot. Kelleher guessed right and dove low to his left to stop Fernandes's shot. That kept the score at 2-1. The save was his first as a Brentford keeper. At Liverpool, Kelleher was renowned for his success in penalty shootouts, most famously scoring the winning penalty in the 2022 Carabao Cup final at Wembley against Chelsea. Goalkeeping teammate Hakon Valdimarsson also made a pair of penalty saves in the Bees' Carabao Cup campaign earlier this season against Aston Villa.

Bees score first

Thiago's 8th minute goal was the first of the game. The Bees have now scored first in 5 of their 6 league games, and 6 of 8 games overall. While they haven't scored any first minute goals like they did last season, they are still scoring in the first half of almost every game.

Great at 12:30

As we discussed in the match preview, the Bees have historically done well in the Premier League's 12:30 Saturday time slot. The Bees have now won 5 of their 7 lunchtime starts in the league.

Dead-ball Kayode

Assuming he stays healthy, this will likely be a trend all season, but Michael Kayode led the team with dead-ball passing attempts. He threw in the ball 17 times, more dead-ball passes than any other player on either team.

It's tough to come back home?

This was Mbeumo's first game back at the Gtech since signing with United. As we saw in the match preview, previous attacking players who have left the Bees have struggled to get on the score sheet on their first visit to the Gtech. While he did have a role in United's goal (by arguably interfering with Kelleher's attempt to claim a cross), he didn't score or get an assist, and generally wasn't all that dangerous throughout the game. He'll surely be doubly motivated to make his mark when Brentford heads to Old Trafford later in the season.

More shots on target

Brentford managed to land 8 out of 10 shot attempts on target, a remarkable 80%. The Bees lead the league with a season average of 45% of their shots reaching the target. While they lead the league in that category, they are at the bottom of the league for shots attempted per 90 minutes at 8.17 per game.

What was different?

Hickey starts at left-back

The good news continues to come this season for Aaron Hickey. This was his first Premier League start since October 2023. Keith Andrews picked him to start at left-back over Rico Henry and Keane Lewis-Potter. Hickey effectively neutralised Mbeumo and also served as a left-footed option for free kicks. He completed 33 of 35 passes, including 4 passes into the final third.

Jensen scores

The Bees looked to be in control for much of the second half, but the Gtech breathed a collective sigh of relief when Jensen rocketed a shot from outside the box into the net during injury time. It was his first goal for the Bees since October 2023 when he scored against ... Manchester United.

The questions

We asked some questions before the game – now we'll answer them.

Question 1: How will Bryan be received?

Mbeumo was given a very positive welcome overall. There was a big cheer for him when he was announced before the game and he was even given some applause when he was taking a corner at the northwest flag. However, his first visit back didn't stop the fans from giving him some good-natured grief, especially once the game was securely in hand. It was good to see him back in Brentford.

Question 1b: Who will be the best #19 on the day?

The #19 battle between Mbeumo and Dango Ouattara was a close one. While both were heavily involved in the game, neither really stood out in the head-to-head comparison. Let's look at some numbers.

Statistical comparison of Bryan Mbeumo and Dango Ouattara (Source: FBref.com)

Question 2: Will Brentford play in a back 5 again?

No. The Bees came out in a back 4 with Hickey at left-back. This enabled the Bees to have more width up front with Ouattara playing on Thiago's right side.

Question 2b: Will Andrews stick with Pinnock?

No. Ethan Pinnock was on the bench, alongside Kristoffer Ajer. Had Collins's foul on Mbeumo been upgraded to a red card by VAR, one or both surely would have been called into action, but as it stood, both remained on the bench.

Some unrelated answers

Before the game we provided some answers, but didn't provide the related questions. We'll do that now.

Brentford goal contributions