Bees score late to beat Burnley 3-1
The Bees controlled a bit of a dull affair for the first 80 minutes before ratcheting up the excitement late, with the teams combining for 4 goals in just over 10 minutes. More of the same in many cases for the Bees at home with another win, lots of goals, another penalty and a happy set of home supporters.
Trends that continued
Winning penalties
The game turned in the 77th minute when Dango Ouattara was fouled in the box. That turned into an 81st-minute penalty for Igor Thiago. The Bees have now taken 7 penalties, and have won a league-leading 6 penalties (the other was a defensive handball in the box). Of the 6 penalties the Bees have won, 4 have been won by Ouattara, including one in each of the last three games.
Brentford's 6 penalties won in 2025-26 (so far) (source Correlation FC)
Looking at the plays that led to the penalties, there are common threads of long passes and dangerous speed. All of Dango's penalties have been drawn near the edge of the box, suggesting that defenders are well aware of the threat his speed represents. When he's not fouled, he's proven himself to be capable of some fine finishes while travelling at top speed (see the final goal of this game).
Goals from (2 of) the front 3
17 of Brentford's 21 league goals so far this season have come from their attacking trio of Thiago, Ouattara and Kevin Schade. Thiago is now one of the top goal scorers in Europe, behind only Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane.
The Brentford trio's 17 goals put them second in the league, behind only Manchester City's top 3 scorers.
Premier League teams with the most combined goals from their top 3 scorers, as of 1st December 2025 (source: FBref)
| Team | Top scorers | Combined goal total |
|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki | 18 |
| Brentford | Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade, Dango Ouattara | 17 |
| Bournemouth | Antoine Semenyo, Eli Junior Kroupi, Marcus Tavernier | 13 |
| Chelsea | Enzo Fernández, João Pedro, Pedro Neto | 12 |
| Crystal Palace | Jean-Philippe Mateta, Ismaila Sarr, Daniel Muñoz | 12 |
Scoring late
The Bees' three goals after 80 minutes in this game bring their season total up to seven, including five goals in second-half injury time compared to only one goal against. Four of the five injury-time goals were crucial in killing off the game, extending a one-goal lead to a two-goal lead – the Bees have now done that against Manchester United, West Ham, Newcastle, and Burnley. The other very late goal was a tying goal against Chelsea.
Great home form
The Bees have continued to excel at home, having now picked up 16 of a possible 21 points at home, only dropping points to Manchester City and Chelsea.
What was different
New midfield
Keith Andrews chose to start Mathias Jensen in midfield, alongside Jordan Henderson and Mikkel Damsgaard, replacing Yehor Yarmoliuk who had started every league game this season. While Jensen doesn't have the run-all-day legs of Yarmoliuk, his passing and technical skills nicely complement Damsgaard's creativity and Henderson's dangerous long balls. Formations tend to be very fluid, but they effectively went from a more defensive 4-2-3-1 to an all-out attacking 4-1-2-3. With a 3-match week, it's likely that Andrews was mixing things up a bit to ensure that the team is ready for Arsenal and Tottenham later in the week as well.
Winning when not on UK TV
There are plenty of Premier League games on TV in the UK this season – 10 of the first 13 for the Bees have been televised. This was only their third non-televised game, and the first that they managed to win.
Brentford goal contributions
| Goal number | Goal scorer | First assist | Second assist | Goal scenario | Time of goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thiago | Ouattara | Damsgaard | Penalty | 81' |
| 2 | Thiago | Henry | Henderson | Open play | 86' |
| 3 | Ouattara | Henderson | Damsgaard | Open play | 90'+2 |
This story was published on 02 December 2025. It was written by Dennis Flood. The image at the top of this story was generated using AI.
