Swansea 0-3 Brentford: Bees continue Swans' home struggles
- Published
Jake Bidwell's own goal summed up another disappointing home game for Swansea
Brentford claimed an emphatic 3-0 victory at Swansea City as the Welsh club's home struggles continued.
Thomas Frank's team are celebrating back-to-back victories for the first time this season after turning on the style in south Wales.
Said Benrahma claimed his first goal of the campaign to give Brentford the lead, the Algerian sending a curling shot beyond Freddie Woodman.
Griffin Park old boy Jake Bidwell's own goal meant it was 2-0 at the break and Bryan Mbeumo's ruthless finish from just outside the box sealed the victory.
Swansea are unbeaten on the road in the Championship this season, but their home form has dipped alarmingly - and Welsh rivals Cardiff City come next on Sunday.
Steve Cooper's side started this season in spectacular fashion, winning seven of their first eight games in all competitions.
But results have been much harder to come by for the Swans since Cooper was named manager of the month for August.
Swansea had not lost a home league fixture since Boxing Day 2018 until Nottingham Forest won at the Liberty Stadium in September, yet they have now taken just one point from the last four games on their patch.
Brentford's fortunes this term have been mixed, with Frank's men struggling to find any consistency.
But having come back from 2-0 down to claim a rousing last-gasp win over Millwall on Saturday, Brentford looked sharper than Swansea from the outset.
Yan Dhanda threatened a couple of times for the hosts in the first half, while skipper Matt Grimes saw a long-range drive saved.
Brentford were much more fluent going forward, though, and it was no surprise when Benrahma rounded off a flowing a counter-attack with a fine finish to give the west London club a 30th-minute lead.
Things quickly got worse for the hosts as Brentford doubled the advantage six minutes later after Kristoffer Peterson gave the ball away near halfway.
Peterson, making a first league start since his summer move from Heracles, had some bright moments going forward, but his loose pass cost his team dear as Ollie Watkins seized possession.
Bidwell did cut out Watkins' pass into the box for Mbeumo - but only succeeded in prodding the ball low past his own goalkeeper.
Swansea briefly rallied at the start of the second half, with Peterson flashing a shot just wide of the post.
But France Under-21 international Mbeumo ended any hope of a comeback when he picked off a Joe Rodon pass and netted his third goal of the season with a shot which gave Woodman no chance.
George Byers came close to pulling one goal back with a header only for David Raya to save brilliantly, while Andre Ayew and Sam Surridge both missed the target late on to round off Swansea's miserable night.
Swansea manager Steve Cooper: "It was disappointing. I am not going to hide away from a poor scoreline at home.
"If you are like that at this level you will get punished, and we have made two big errors for the second and third goals. So you go 3-0 down and it's a tough ask to get back into it.
"We particularly fell short with our defending throughout the pitch, not just in the back four and around our goal. If you do that you concede goals and we got punished."
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank: "It was close to perfect.
"We wanted to go high and press on goal-kicks and from the goalkeeper's hands to try to win the ball high.
"When we won the ball we were a big threat counter-attacking. We pressed high again in the second half and got the third goal and we more or less controlled the game after that.
"I see consistent good performances and hopefully there is more to come - but we need to keep our heads down and continue working extremely hard."