Fulham 0-3 Brentford: Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo goals help Bees beat rivals
- Published
- comments
Mbeumo has converted his past four penalties in the Premier League
Yoane Wissa's opener and Bryan Mbeumo's double gave Brentford a comfortable win over west London rivals Fulham, who were reduced to 10 men at Craven Cottage.
A defensive error from Fulham centre-back Issa Diop set up Wissa, who rounded goalkeeper Bernd Leno before slotting the Bees into the lead on the stroke of half-time.
In the 64th minute, Wissa went through on goal only to be pushed over by Tim Ream in the box as he attempted to shoot.
The Fulham captain was given a second yellow card, with Mbeumo calmly netting the penalty in off the post.
And the Brentford winger added a third in the 92nd minute, tapping in Kristoffer Ajer's low cross.
Brentford's win was their fifth in eight games against Fulham and extended their unbeaten run in London derbies to 11, equalling a club record.
After the match, Fulham manager Marco Silva confirmed forward Aleksandar Mitrovic was being sold to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal.
Mitrovic was not in the squad for Saturday's game after a picking up an ankle injury in his side's win over Everton last week.
Goals not a problem for Toney-less Bees
Frank praises 'dangerous' Brentford
Wissa and Mbeumo have made excellent starts to the season, having both also scored against Tottenham last Saturday.
The visitors are without last season's top scorer Ivan Toney, who is banned until January for breaking betting rules, but manager Thomas Frank will be relieved by the sparkling early form of his team-mates.
"I've been asked, 'what will we do when Ivan is not here?'" Frank told BBC Match of the Day after full-time.
"We have seen that we have scored goals. We are very confident. We have been cool and haven't rushed out to get another striker."
Wissa, who has now scored in four of his past five Premier League fixtures, almost put Brentford ahead in the 38th minute, flicking Mbeumo's cross goalwards only to see his effort cleared by defender Antonee Robinson.
But the 26-year-old did open the scoring in the 44th minute, latching on to Diop's loose touch and calmly dribbling beyond Leno before passing the ball into the bottom corner.
Brentford had the game wrapped up through Mbeumo's penalty just after the hour mark, and referee Darren Bond's decision to send off Ream - who had received his first yellow card for a late challenge in first-half injury-time - allowed the Bees to canter through the final 30 minutes.
They added a deserved third in the closing stages with Cameroon winger Mbeumo unmarked in the area to tap home his third goal of the season.
Judging by Saturday's performance, goals may not be such a worry for the Bees this season.
'A clear error from the referee'
Fulham 0-3 Brentford: Marco Silva disappointed by decision to send off Tim Ream
Fulham boss Marco Silva believed the penalty decision and Ream's subsequent sending-off "decided the game", predicting "there will be over 200 yellows in the first 10 weeks" of the new Premier League season.
"I have seen the [penalty] moment 10 times, I can not see anything," he told Match of the Day. "It is difficult to understand because in my opinion this was a clear error from the referee."
The Portuguese manager said to Sky Sports: "There are new rules and we have to get used to it. The Premier League is totally different now to last season or the season before or 20 years ago. We have to adapt. It's difficult to understand."
Still, Fulham lacked a clinical edge, the home team's best chance of the first half coming through Brentford defender Ethan Pinnock, who headed Andreas Pereira's corner on to his own crossbar in the 32nd minute.
And, with Brentford 1-0 up after the restart, Bobby De Cordova-Reid's dipping shot struck the top of the woodwork with Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken rooted.
Winger Adama Traore and defender Calvin Bassey both came on for their Fulham debuts in the second half, but neither could inspire a fightback.