Correlation FC

Bees win away at Sheffield Wednesday 2-0

The Bees started their 2025-26 FA Cup campaign away at Sheffield Wednesday. The Bees fielded a strong lineup and dominated the game against a young team in the midst of a very difficult season, winning with a final score of 2-0.

What was new?

Donovan's first start

Winger Romelle Donovan made his first start for the Bees' senior team. While he didn't score, he was dangerous throughout and did draw a penalty.

Captain Jensen wins a FA Cup match

Mathias Jensen wore the armband as captain of the Bees. This is the fourth time he's done it in the FA Cup, but the first time that the team has won. The team previously lost against West Ham (2022-23), Wolves (2023-24) and Plymouth Argyle (2024-25).

Oldest starting lineup, youngest bench

Keith Andrews likely surprised a few people when he named his oldest squad of the season to take on Wednesday. The four oldest players in the squad – Jordan Henderson, Ethan Pinnock, Jensen and Rico Henry – all started.

Andrews also named his youngest bench of the season, including his five youngest players – Benjamin Arthur, Gustavo Nunes, Yunus Konak, Julian Eyestone and Romelle Donovan – with all but Eyestone getting a chance to come off the bench.

It was the sixth time this season that the average lineup age (starters + bench) was under 25 years old.

Brentford's squad ages in 2025-26 (source: Correlation FC)

Trends that continued

Winning in red and white

The Bees are celebrating 100 years of red and white stripes this season, and have been playing remarkably well in their familiar colours. Across all competitions, the team has worn red and white 15 times, winning 10 times, drawing 3 times and only losing twice, both times against Manchester City.

The Bees have worn their home kit in five straight games, the most in their Premier League era. They're likely to wear it again in their next two fixtures, away against Chelsea and home against Nottingham Forest. Let's hope they keep picking up points in red and white.

Even cleaner sheets

The Bees have now held their opponents goal-less in four of their last six games across all competitions. Hakon Valdimarsson kept his third clean sheet of the season, bringing the Bees to a combined total of eight for the season, or roughly 1 for every 3 games.

Dead-ball Cup goals

The Bees have been scoring freely for most of the season, with the majority of their league goals coming from open play and counter-attacks. In Cup competitions though, they've scored 6 of their 10 goals from dead-ball situations. The opening goal against the Owls was from a free kick and the second was from a penalty.

Map of Brentford's cup goals (source: Correlation FC)

Brentford's dead-ball goals in the EFL Cup and FA Cup competitions (source: Correlation FC)

Brentford goal contributions

Jensen picks up another pair of goal involvements to go along with the three he picked up in the EFL Cup. Two goals, two first assists and a second assist so far.

Goal number	Goal scorer	First assist	Second assist	Goal scenario	Time of goal
1	Lewis-Potter	Jensen	–	Free kick	27'
2	Jensen	Donovan	–	Penalty	64'

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