Goodnightpublished at 20:30 Greenwich Mean Time 4 January
Thanks for joining us today. Match of the Day is on BBC One at 22:20 GMT. We'll be back for two Premier League games tomorrow including the big one at Anfield.
Bryan Mbeumo's double guided Brentford to a first Premier League away win of the season as they crushed lowly Southampton.
Kevin Schade opened the scoring after six minutes, latching on to Mikkel Damsgaard's brilliant defence-splitting pass and slotting in.
Mbeumo increased Brentford's lead when he fired into the roof of the net just after the hour mark.
The Cameroon international got his second goal of the afternoon from the penalty spot after Chelsea loanee Lesley Ugochukwu caught Sepp van den Berg.
Mbeumo turned provider to find Keane Lewis-Potter for the first of Brentford's two stoppage-time goals, with Yoane Wissa latching on to a poor header from substitute Yukinari Sugawara to complete the rout.
Brentford move up to 10th in the table while Southampton remain rooted to the bottom on just six points.
Thomas Frank's visiting side had picked up just two league points on the road before this game, which was the joint lowest tally in the top flight - matched only by their hosts.
They changed that emphatically against a woeful Southampton, recording their biggest-ever Premier League win and their biggest victory in the top flight since 1938.
Frank said: "That was very, very close to perfection. We gave nothing away throughout 90 minutes, defended extremely well and then we created chance after chance after chance.
"We haven't won away on the road [before today], but the performance we put out there is fantastic and I think it speaks about the culture that we have got in the changing room and among the players. The commitment, the focus, the attitude - wow."
Schade scored his fifth league goal of the season while Mbeumo now has 13 this term, behind only Mohamed Salah (17) and Erling Haaland (16).
As well as his goals, Mbeumo provided an assist for Lewis-Potter who scored his first goal since August when he netted in the second round of the EFL Cup.
Brentford have two players on double figures after Wissa scored his 10th of the campaign in a richly deserved victory for the Bees.
It is the second time this season that Brentford have scored five goals - they did so against Wolves in October - and they could have had even more.
Christian Norgaard hit the bar, Damsgaard's strike whistled wide of the post and Wissa fired over after latching on to a flick-on from Schade.
Southampton were looking to start the new year on a positive note. Instead, this was utterly bleak for Saints.
The home fans who left after Mbeumo made it 3-0 departed in full confidence they would not be missing a fightback from their side.
There has been no 'new manager bounce' under Ivan Juric who has become the seventh Southampton boss to lose his opening three league games in charge.
Southampton have fewer points at this stage than Derby did in 2007-08 when they went on to set a Premier League record low for a season of 11 points.
Juric said after Saturday's game: "There was such a difference between the two teams and I'm disappointed with everything: the team, myself, everybody.
"Today I was thinking about one step forward and we took three steps back. It was a really bad performance.
"We cannot lose 5-0 at home. I feel responsible, sorry. The game, it was awful. This day cannot happen any more."
From Southampton's only real chance, a header from Paul Onuachu was easily saved by Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
This was the third league game since early December in which Southampton have conceded five goals at home, with Chelsea and Tottenham both rampant at St Mary's last month.
A combination of dreadful defending and low confidence from Southampton allowed Brentford to follow their fellow London sides in trampling over the home side.
Relegation feels inevitable, with Southampton's six points from their opening 20 games matching Sunderland's class of 2005-06 for the worst tally by a side at this stage in the Premier League era.
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 45 | 17 | 28 | 45 |
| |
2 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 39 | 18 | 21 | 40 |
| |
3 | 19 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 26 | 19 | 7 | 37 |
| |
4 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 39 | 24 | 15 | 36 |
| |
5 | 20 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 22 | 12 | 35 |
| |
6 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 36 | 27 | 9 | 34 |
| |
7 | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 7 | 33 |
| |
8 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 30 | 32 | -2 | 32 |
| |
9 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 28 | 25 | 3 | 29 |
| |
10 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 30 | 29 | 1 | 28 |
| |
11 | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 38 | 35 | 3 | 27 |
| |
12 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 42 | 30 | 12 | 24 |
| |
13 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 24 | 39 | -15 | 23 |
| |
14 | 19 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 21 | 26 | -5 | 22 |
| |
15 | 20 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 21 | 28 | -7 | 21 |
| |
16 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 25 | -10 | 17 |
| |
17 | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 42 | -11 | 16 |
| |
18 | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 33 | -15 | 15 |
| |
19 | 20 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 23 | 44 | -21 | 14 |
| |
20 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 12 | 44 | -32 | 6 |
|
Manager: Ivan Juric
Formation: 3 - 4 - 3
Manager: Thomas Frank
Formation: 4 - 3 - 3
Manager: Ivan Juric
Formation: 3 - 4 - 3
Manager: Thomas Frank
Formation: 4 - 3 - 3
Premier League
All competitions
All competitions
All competitions
Having won their first Premier League game against Brentford 4-1 in January 2022, Southampton have now lost each of their last four against the Bees, conceding three goals in three of those matches.
Brentford won 2-0 in their last away league game against Southampton in March 2023 – they’ve never won consecutive league visits against them before.
As a Premier League side, Southampton have won their first league game in three of the last four calendar years, including a 4-1 win over Brentford in 2022. However, they did lose their first match of 2023 1-0 against Nottingham Forest.
Southampton have picked up just one win and six points in 19 games in the Premier League this season (W1 D3 L15). Only one team has ever won six points through their opening 20 games of a campaign, with Sunderland doing so in 2005-06 (6), going on to finish bottom with 15 points.
Brentford have lost 17 of their last 23 away Premier League matches (W3 D3) and are winless in all nine away games this season (D2 L7), with no side picking up fewer points on the road than the Bees (2).
Southampton have lost their opening two Premier League matches under new manager Ivan Juric. Six previous managers have lost their opening three league games with the Saints, most recently Nathan Jones in the 2022-23 campaign.
Brentford only won six of their first 17 Premier League games against sides in the relegation zone (D4 L7) but have since won their last three in a row, scoring five goals in each of their last two wins (5-1 vs. Luton in April last season, 5-3 vs. Wolves in October this season).
Southampton have lost their last four home Premier League matches, shipping 14 goals in the process. Only twice have the Saints lost five in a row on home soil, doing so in runs ends in August 1998 and February 2023.
Brentford scored 62 Premier League goals in 2024 – none of the first 10 goals were scored or assisted by either Bryan Mbeumo or Yoane Wissa but 33 of their last 52 goals in 2024 saw either Mbeumo or Wissa involved in the goal (63%).
18-year-old Tyler Dibling has scored two Premier League goals this season for Southampton, a tally that makes him their joint top scorer. Only one teenager has scored more times in a Premier League campaign for the Saints – Matt Oakley in 1996-97 (3).