Correlation FC

Manchester United beat the Bees 2-1

Brentford's streak of five straight draws was broken by United after the Bees were unable to come back from a two-goal first-half deficit. The Bees dominated the second-half, and Mathias Jensen's late goal kept things interesting until the final whistle.

Familiar themes

Tough to win in Manchester

The Bees have had a difficult time winning games in Manchester. Since joining the Premier League in 2021-22, the Bees have not defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford. They have but one victory at the Etihad against City (though hopefully that will change soon).

Easy for Jensen to score against United?

Jensen seems to enjoy playing against United, having scored four of his eleven career Premier League goals against United. He's never scored two against United in the same season, and each of his goals has come against a different goalkeeper (David de Gea, Andre Onana, Altay Bayindir and Senne Lammens).

What was different

Two goals to one

Brentford have conceded two goals in 15 league games this season. It's generally not great news for the Bees when that happens, as they've only picked up points in six of those 15.

Despite conceding two goals 15 times, the Bees have only finished with a 2-1 loss on three occasions, all on the road. Before the United loss, they also lost 2-1 against Sunderland and Arsenal. It must be something about red and white uniforms.

Other data stories

Bees form

Brentford's five-game streak of draws has come to an end. The optimistic view is that they were undefeated in five. The pessimistic view is that they were winless in five. Both are correct.

We wanted to see how the Bees' form has changed over the season, and how that compared to previous seasons. To do that, we've simply added up the points the Bees have earned over a rolling 5-game stretch. As an example, the Bees' recent stretch earned them five points in five games. The maximum would be 15 points (for five consecutive wins) and of course the lowest would be zero, a feat the Bees have accomplished twice in their five seasons.

5-game league form in the Premier League (source: Correlation FC)

Their current total of four points from their last five is their low-water mark for the season, a mark they've hit three other times this season. While they're still in the top half of the league table now, they'll surely need to turn their form around and have a strong finish over the final few games as they've done in several previous seasons.

Dasilva back in the lineup

While he didn't manage to get into the match, it was fantastic to see Josh Dasilva in the matchday squad for Brentford. He has suffered greatly through a number of injury setbacks. Since his last appearance in January 2024, he has missed 88 Premier League matches over a period of 817 days. It's been more than three years since he last started for Brentford. It seems unlikely that he'll get a start in the final four games of this season, but Bees fans would be delighted to see him come off the bench in any of the remaining fixtures. His dedication and perseverance are remarkable.

Brentford goal contributions

While the team had many chances throughout the game, the Bees only scored one against United.