Brentford

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

This summer could be a big one for Brentford, regardless of whether or not we manage to grab a place in Europe for next season.

Five long-serving members of the squad will be entering the final year of their contracts, and although the club has a year's option on Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Rico Henry, the deals of Vitaly Janelt and Mathias Jensen completely expire in 14 months' time.

It is unusual for the Bees to be in a position like this. I can't remember any recent season when so many key players could potentially walk away at the same time.

All five of them, when fit, have been mainstays in our team for years - with all but Wissa joining us in the Championship. Losing a few of this group would be a massive moment in our evolution.

I am quite sentimental when it comes to long-serving players and would like all of them to extend their stays - but football doesn't always work like that.

While Mbeumo and Wissa are still first choice, Jensen has found it hard to force his way back into the starting line-up - ahead of the vastly improved Mikkel Damsgaard - since his recent recovery from injury and Yehor Yarmoliuk has started to be chosen ahead of Janelt sometimes.

Henry has only just regained fitness following almost 18 months of injury and may find it hard to oust Keane Lewis-Potter, who has had an outstanding season covering for him at left-back.

With Ben Mee and Josh Dasilva out of contract this summer, and Michael Kayode's loan coming to an end then too, director of football Phil Giles and his team are going to be busy!

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We asked you to tell us one thing - good or bad - that is currently going under the radar at Brentford.

Here are some of your comments:

Joe: Keane Lewis-Potter - he struggled to make an impact in his first few seasons but he has really stepped up as a left wing-back this season. Given he was signed as an attacker, his transition to a more defensive role has been surprisingly strong. He is now one of the first names on the teamsheet and he is playing well. Nobody outside Brentford seems to be aware of this though, with all the attention (for good reason) on Mbeumo and Wissa. I think it's time KLP was shown some of the same love.

Cam: What a great job Thomas Frank has done in transforming Keane Lewis-Potter from a striker/winger to a full-back - and how he has made the position his own this season.

Evan: Keano has had a fantastic transformation into a right-back. I can see him ripping defences apart for many years, especially with someone like Marcus Rashford as the central attacker at the Gtech.

Ian: Pundits predicted that Brentford would struggle without Ivan Toney. However, Mbeumo and Wissa are creating their own Brentford history. With five games still to play, both of the above names could reach or surpass the 20-goal mark for the season. It proves that Brentford's recruitment over recent years has found two more proven goalscorers.

Chris: Losing both Mbeumo and Wissa at the same time is becoming ever more worrying. We know Mbeumo will most likely leave us, but to lose Wissa at the same time is too awful to think about. But, whatever happens, breaking up this amazing partnership will be a sad day for both us and the two best friends.

Andy: The article a couple of weeks ago about goalkeeper rankings omitted to mention that Brentford have one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, once again demonstrating the club's ability to have a succession plan when selling our best players to big clubs. Being a 'selling club' is one thing, but being consistently good at it is quite another!

A dramatic game against Brighton on Saturday showcased - again - the fantastic Bees partnership of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa.

But you know your club best, so give us a peek behind the curtain and tell us the one thing no-one is talking about at Brentford but really should be.

Let us know here

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Brentford FC

As a club that prides itself on its relationship with fans and the community, knowing sustainability is "important" to supporters has been a real driver for Brentford to take action.

The impact of climate change is being felt in many different ways and football is not immune to these.

Previous research, external has suggested one in four professional football pitches will be at risk from flooding in 25 years.

While so much of fans' focus is what is happening on the pitch, there is an increasing expectation from supporters that clubs should be doing more to reduce their impact off it.

In the second part of our Earth Day chat with James Beale, Brentford's sustainability manager highlighted how engaging fans in the journey is such a key element of their sustainability programme.

"We have a sustainability working group with the fans. Our official supporters' groups sit on that, but we also have an independent group of fans with knowledge and concern for the environmental crisis called the Sustaina-Bees, who are great and sit on the group too," Beale explained to BBC Sport.

"We meet regularly. We talk about things that the club are up to on sustainability. We talk about their concerns.

"Last year, we did a survey on our fans. We published the outcomes of that in our sustainability report and they rated sustainability 8.1 out of 10 in terms of importance, so we know it's important to them."

Alongside their discounted rail travel for fans travelling to away games, the Bees have also recently announced their Bike To Brentford scheme.

Supporters who cycle to the team's Premier League fixture against Manchester United on 4 May will receive a free food and drink voucher to use at the ground.

With fan travel being one of Brentford's biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, alongside helping supporters both physically and financially, schemes like these can help in reducing the environmental impact of matchdays.

"We're making it easier and safer for fans to cycle to games this spring," Beale said.

"We're putting up temporary bike parks around the stadium. We're rewarding fans for cycling to games. It is a trial right now but we're going to use that to build on for next season, take some learnings and work out how we can continue the project."

With fans clearly an integral part of Brentford's sustainability ambitions, what message does Beale have for supporters?

"Come with us. We're really keen to collaborate as much as possible on both helping the club become more sustainable, but also helping the local community become more sustainable.

"We can't do that alone. The fans' views, opinions and influence are really important, and we want to work with them on this."

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Brentford FC

Brentford know they have a "responsibility" to protect the environment and communities, but are "excited" for the journey ahead.

The Bees' approach to sustainability comes under five key pillars - governance, climate, waste and circularity, nature and engagement.

Since the introduction of the strategy, the club have been making progress and introducing initiatives in all areas.

This has included discounted train travel for fans travelling to away matches, releasing a new home kit bi-annually, planting an orchard locally and a community garden outside the stadium.

"Sustainability is becoming more important for football clubs, and for all organisations," Brentford sustainability manager James Beale told BBC Sport.

"A couple of years ago, the club developed our sustainability strategy and one of the outcomes from it was that we realised it's a huge topic - it's important,"

"Everyone's got a responsibility for sustainability. We recognise the platform that we have as a Premier League club. We also understand the influence that we have in helping our fans become more sustainable.

"As a club, we like to focus on the community. Our stadium is called The Gtech Community Stadium, and we know we have a very local fan base. We want to make sure that they have an environment to thrive in now and for future generations."

Tuesday, 22 April marks Earth Day - a day in the international calendar that provides the opportunity to reflect on progress and understand future opportunities to be more sustainable.

At the end of last season, Brentford released their first sustainability report, external. It brought together their sustainability work into one place and allowed the club to transparently communicate their progress to supporters.

However, it also acknowledged how this is just the beginning, and they plan on going further in all five of their key pillars.

"We are doing lots, but there's always more to be done," Beale added.

"It's a journey and this is early days. We're excited about how we can build on our work so far.

"I think there's a fine balance to be struck between recognising the significance of the issue and giving it the attention it deserves, but also building this into our normal everyday actions and not making it this big, scary thing for fans and something they can't deal with."

Come back later on Tuesday for more on Brentford's sustainability journey

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

It has been a long wait, but Brentford finally picked up three points at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday for the first time since beating Newcastle United in early December - nine matches ago.

It stretched our current run to two defeats in nine matches and continued our strong finish to the campaign.

Beating Brighton also revived talk of a late push to finish in the European places, although I still think that is unlikely.

Stars of the show once again were strike duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, who shared three goals and two assists between them.

The pair have 34 Premier League goals this season, with Mbeumo on 18 and Wissa on 16.

A large part of their partnership is an understanding formed by the experience of nearly three seasons playing together and a close friendship off the pitch.

They apparently live next door to each other and you can see their closeness when you watch them play.

Each instinctively knows where the other is, or will be, as moves build up - a telepathy which has led to several of their goals.

You can also see when they celebrate goals together just what they think of each other.

It will be interesting to see if they get separated in the summer with speculation already starting about their futures. Each has a contract running to 2026, with a one-year club option.

While sadly it seems likely Mbeumo will go, as we have to sell one player each summer to balance the books, I honestly cannot see us letting both of them leave, unless we get offered silly money.

I am sure each can be effective without the other, but it would be sad to see this magical partnership broken up.

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The latest episode of BBC World Service's World Football podcast series takes an in-depth look at the thriving strike partnership of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa at Brentford.

Cameroon's Mbeumo and Wissa from DR Congo are the top two goalscorers for the Bees during their time in the Premier League with 40 and 42 goals respectively and are closing in on the Premier League record for most games in a season in which they have both scored.

Goals for each against Brighton at the weekend made it seven times this season where they have both scored, beating the six of Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo.

The Premier League record stands at 10 and is jointly-held by Salah, with Roberto Firmino in 2017-18 and Sadio Mane in 2021-22.

Salah and Firmino both scored in 10 matches in the 2017-18 campaign, while the Egyptian equalled his own record with Senegal winger Mane in the 2021-22 season.

Six further partnerships have scored in eight or more matches in a single campaign, meaning Mbeumo and Wissa are joint-10th on the list.

John Bennett has been speaking to World Football's George Addo and the former DR Congo captain Gabriel Zakuani about their partnership.

"When you look at the number of games they have scored in for the club together - they have scored in 18 games both of them," said Addo. "These two are doing so much here for Brentford."

"The spotlight was on Ivan Toney," added Zakuani. "Once Toney left, it freed Wissa a little bit and he wanted to be the main man and take the mantle. He and Mbeumo have been outstanding.

"Mbeumo has probably been better for longer but Wissa has really come into his own since Toney has left and has always been a good finisher."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Brentford and Brighton.

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Jane: Great to see Bryan Mbeumo at his scintillating best. Although you can never say he has a poor performance, here he showed the class he is capable of. And the partnership with Yoane Wissa is just a joy to watch. Brentford fans are living the dream still.

Alastair: First, I hope both Konak and Van Hecke are both okay after their nasty clash of heads. Not often you can say Wissa missed a great chance but we should have been ahead very early. However, he certainly put things right with another sparkling showing alongside the maestro Mbeumo. Damsgaard and Norgaard ran our midfield throughout. Only concerns were our habit of switching off towards the end of first halves and our fears that Kayode may pick up a lot of cards. Although, he is a great talent going forward, he seemed a bit reckless in defence at times. Picking up a yellow card in that fashion was stupid. Overall very happy.

Coral: What an enthralling match that had us on the edge of our seats! Great to get quick goals to start both halves and finally we are getting players back from injury. What a partnership Mbeumo and Wissa are - 34 Premier League goals between them and more to come.

Brighton fans

Sarah: It's interesting that Fabian Hurzeler said he thinks we controlled the game - I wonder which game he was watching?! We had players out of position and it cost us the match. Although we have a lot of great players, the formation and strategy clearly isn't working. This needs sorting now!

David: Once again too ponderous on the ball, backward and sideways passes do not score goals. Our best part of the game was when we were down to 10 men. Beaten yet again by breakaway forwards who are faster than our defence.

Malcolm: Another inept defensive performance. Dunk is well past his best and his reappearance has coincided with our bad run. Joao Pedro looks like he doesn't care about the team, only himself, so the sooner we sell him the better. Team selection is down to the manager and there have been too many naive mistakes, so it is time to get someone in with experience if we want European football again. A very disappointing end to a season that promised so much. Time for change.

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo speaking to Premier League Productions: "We are very happy. Obviously we haven't won here for eight games. I think we deserved the win. We are very, very happy."

On Brentford's game plan: "Of course we knew we could hit them in behind on the transition and this is what we did today. We respected the game plan very well. To press as high as we can and to win the ball."

On the winless run at home: "Yeah it's been hard. When they went to 10-men they kept pushing and came back but we secured the win at the end."

On the 'friendly rivalry' with Yoane Wissa: "I think we try to help the team to win, him and me. I think we can do it until the end of the season."

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford recorded their first home league win since December against Newcastle United (4-2), ending a run of eight matches without a win (D3 L5).

Were you at the game or following elsewhere?

Have your say on Brentford's performance

What did you make of Brighton's display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Five matches make up Saturday's Premier League action and BBC Sport will bring you every kick.

• Brentford v Brighton

• Crystal Palace v Bournemouth

• Everton v Manchester City

• West Ham v Southampton

• Aston Villa v Newcastle (17:30 BST)

All kick-off times 15:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

Brighton have had a bit of a dip in form and started conceding a few goals, so their hopes of breaking into the top five are probably gone now.

Even so, the 10th-placed Seagulls are one of those teams where just when you think about writing them off, they will come up with a performance and wallop someone.

I don't expect that to happen on Saturday, however. Brentford are only one place below them in the table and although they are not on a great run either, the Bees are always hard to beat.

The more I think about it, the more it smells of a draw. I am pretty sure the BBC readers are going to go for a draw too, so we all agree on this one.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Tyrese King
BBC Sport journalist

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Brighton (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Frank expects everyone who was available last week for the 1-1 draw against Arsenal to be available against Brighton.

• Providing an update on Aaron Hickey and Igor Thiago, who have not featured for the Bees this year, he says that both players are "getting closer" and that it "all looks good" to return soon.

• On team morale: "They're in good spirits, I think some weeks are good in terms of training, other weeks are fantastic, and this week has been fantastic."

• Brentford "need to win" if they want any chance of finishing in a European spot this term, according to Frank.

• He said further: "We have plenty to aim for still. The simple one to aim for is to just finish as high as possible, and everything is still there for us - a top-10 finish would be fantastic for the club."

• Frank explained: "Everyone is speaking about Europe and that's tough - if we want any ambition about that, we need to win on Saturday, against a team that also needs to win on Saturday!"

• On the atmosphere in Brentford: "I'm a big believer that if there is a good atmosphere and relationship between the players, then they are more willing to go the extra mile for each other. It's very rare that every player is friends with each other, but there are people who are closer than others in the squad."

• On Bryan Mbeumo and Yoanne Wissa - who have both hit 15 or more goals this season, Frank said: "I think that they will be friends always, even when they stop playing football. It's a privilege to coach them and see them everyday because they are so lively and always have big smiles coming in."

• Frank also praised young defender Michael Kayode: " I think he was very good when he came on. He was energetic, constantly bombarding forward, going up and down. I thought he was strong defensively as well in his one-on-one duels."

• On Brighton: "I think they have had a good season. I think [Fabian] Hurzeler has done a good job in his first year in the Premier League. Clearly he's a talented coach, who like all of us are learning on the way."

Follow all of Brentford's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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Earlier, we asked you to name the current Brentford player from a series of clues.

The correct answer is Sepp van den Berg.

Guess the current Brentford player from these three clues:

• I joined Brentford from Liverpool.

• I had loan spells at Preston, Schalke and Mainz during my time with Liverpool.

• I am yet to score a Premier League goal for the Bees.

Come back to this page later for the answer

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford have won just one of their seven Premier League games against Brighton and that was a 2-0 home victory in October 2022.

Tottenham have identified Brentford head coach Thomas Frank, Fulham boss Marco Silva and Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola as candidates to replace Ange Postecoglou should he be dismissed. (Teamtalk), external

Want more news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Michael Kayode showed he can be Brentford's next successful signing with a brilliant cameo performance at Arsenal on Saturday.

The on-loan Fiorentina right-back has struggled for minutes since arriving at the club in January, partly because of injury.

He has failed to start a game but had made five substitute appearances before the weekend's trip across London - only one of which had been before the 80th minute.

However, following his earliest introduction to date - in the 69th minute - he played a crucial role in two key moments that earned the Bees a point.

Firstly, his overlap run and brilliant dinked cross set up Nathan Collins to head back to Yoane Wissa for our equaliser.

Then almost immediately at the other end, he made a brilliant goal-saving tackle to deny Bukayo Saka after a mistake by Mark Flekken.

Kayode has looked an exciting player every time he has come on so far.

Full of enthusiasm and with an amazing long throw, his debut against Spurs in February left us wanting to see more of him, but after three more brief appearances that month, the Brentford injury curse struck him down.

He returned - again briefly - against Chelsea at the start of April, before his starring role on Saturday.

Given our safe position in the table and the fact Kayode is on loan with a view to a potential full transfer in the summer, I think it would be worth giving him some starts in our remaining six games to judge just how good he is.

If he continues in the same vein and we sign him in the summer, then he could give hopefully fit-again Aaron Hickey, and the likes of Kristoffer Ajer, some real competition at right-back next season.

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