Correlation FC

Brentford defeat Wolves 2-0

A strong second-half performance and a pair of goals by Keane Lewis-Potter led the Bees to a 2-0 victory against the Wolves, giving an early Christmas gift to the travelling supporters.

What was different?

A win on the road

The win was the Bees' second on the road this season, with their first coming at West Ham. The win at Wolverhampton was their first win outside of London since May 2025 when they beat Ipswich Town away.

Just one sub

Keith Andrews made just one substitution against Wolves, when he introduced Mikkel Damsgaard in the 64th minute. This was the first time in Brentford's 169 Premier League matches that Andrews or Thomas Frank only made a single substitution. They are yet to play a Premier League game without making any subs.

Brentford results by number of substitutions in the Premier League (source: Correlation FC)

The chart shows that the Bees have been perfect in the very rare instances when they've made 1 or 6 subs. The Bees have never won a Premier League game when only making 2 substitutions. If they make 3, 4 or 5, they have roughly even win rates (35%, 40% and 38%).

Back to the Wolves game – why did Andrews break the mould and only make a single substitution? That's a good question. We have no data to help support our understanding, but our best guess is that he wanted to stick with his starters with hopes that they'd be able to see out the game and keep a clean sheet. If that was the plan, it worked to perfection.

KLP starting at right wing

Lewis-Potter was effective throughout the game. His versatility is one of his major assets, and he's played all over the pitch this season. The match against Wolves was only his second start of the season at right wing, the first coming on opening day against Nottingham Forest. With Dango Ouattara away for AFCON, KLP may get some more opportunities to shine on the wing for the Bees.

What was the same?

Kelleher stopping penalties

Bees keeper Caoimhin Kelleher was called for a foul in the box in the 87th minute. The Bees had a 2-0 lead at the time, but the last thing the Bees wanted was to have a tough fight over the final minutes of the game.

Fortunately, Kelleher did what he does, and he saved the penalty – his second in the league this season in addition to stopping a famous Portuguese striker while on international duty for Ireland.

Kelleher's penalty saves since 2021-22 (source: FBref)

Since 2021-22, not including penalty shootouts, Kelleher has saved 7 of the 12 penalties he's faced. That's a very impressive 58.3%.

Brentford goal contributions