Bryan Mbeumo scored his fourth goal of the Premier League season as Brentford lost 3-1 to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Mbeumo volleyed the Bees in front inside the opening 30 seconds, but the hosts hit back before half-time through Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson. Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was fortunate to avoid punishment for handling the ball outside of his box shortly before the hour mark, before James Maddison extended his side’s lead late on.
Thomas Frank made two changes to the side that lined up against Manchester City last weekend.
Christian Nørgaard - who the Bees boss revealed is nursing “a minor injury” - and Yoane Wissa (ankle) made way for Yehor Yarmoliuk and Fábio Carvalho.
Just as they did at the Etihad, Brentford came flying out the traps and stung Spurs with just 22 seconds on the clock.
The ball was played to Keane Lewis-Potter on the left, who dropped a shoulder to beat Pedro Porro and floated a cross towards the front post. Mbeumo peeled away from the crowd and thumped a volley beyond the helpless Vicario.
Undeterred, Spurs immediately went in search of an equaliser. Rodrigo Bentancur’s strike from the edge of the area deflected wide and Cristian Romero’s looping header from the resulting corner was held by Mark Flekken.
Solanke then pounced on Sepp van den Berg’s heavy touch, advanced down the left and worked the ball inside to Heung-min Son. The Tottenham captain found Maddison inside the six-yard box and his shot was bravely blocked by Ethan Pinnock.
But Tottenham were level moments later. Pinnock’s loose pass was intercepted by Maddison, whose initial effort from the edge of the box was parried by Flekken, and Solanke followed in and tucked home on the rebound.
The game continued at pace: Son’s dipping effort was saved by Flekken and Johnson, found by Dejan Kulusevski, dragged across the face of goal and wide from 20 yards.
Udogie’s low cross from the left led to pinball in the Brentford area, with Pinnock eventually hacking to safety.
At the other end, Lewis-Potter cut on to his right foot and went for goal, but his low drive from distance lacked the power to trouble Vicario.
On 26 minutes, Solanke dropped deep and lifted the ball over the Brentford backline. Son raced clear and rounded Flekken but, crowded by the Bees’ recovering defenders, opted to tee up Kulusevski and his strike was charged down by Yarmoliuk.
But Spurs’ pressure was rewarded. Johnson, released by Son, advanced down the right of the area, opened up the angle under pressure from Nathan Collins with a clever feint and drilled hard and low into the far corner.
Just after the half-hour mark, Maddison crossed low from the byline and Lewis-Potter cleared with Solanke looking to pounce.
Brentford were then almost gifted a second goal. Vicario was dispossessed by Carvalho inside his own six-yard box, who rolled the ball back to Mbeumo, but the forward’s shot was straight at the keeper.
Carvalho almost turned provider again moments later, intercepting Maddison’s pass and shifting to Damsgaard on his left, but the Dane’s effort from just outside the box lacked conviction and was held by Vicario.
Maddison’s cross-shot was pushed away by Flekken in the final action of a frenetic first half.
Five minutes after the break, Flekken dropped low to his right to deny Kulusevski following some neat interplay on the edge of Brentford’s box involving Maddison and Udogie.
Then came a moment of real controversy. Vicario advanced a long way off his line to claim a cross but, under pressure from Damsgaard, failed to gather.
The Spurs keeper then handled the ball outside of his area, taking the ball away from Damsgaard and denying him the opportunity to strike at goal, but the referee allowed play to continue and Kristoffer Ajer and Thomas Frank were both booked for their protests.
The sides then exchanged big chances: Mbeumo latched on to Ajer’s through ball and saw a venomous effort well saved by Vicario before Johnson pulled wide having been found by Son.
Substitute Kevin Schade almost made an immediate impact. After a spell of possession around the hosts’ box, van den Berg looped in a cross from the byline, Schade superbly headed towards goal and the ball was clawed away by the keeper.
As the Bees looked to push on in the final minutes, Spurs extended their advantage.
Romero began a blistering counter attack on the edge of his own box, Son slipped the ball through to Maddison and the midfielder lifted over the advancing Flekken and into the net.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario; Porro (Gray 88), Romero, van den Ven, Udogie; Kulusevski, Bentancur (Bissouma 63), Maddison (Bergvall 88); Johnson (Sarr 70), Solanke (Moore 88), Son
Subs not used: Forster, Spence, Drăgușin, Werner
Brentford: Flekken; van den Berg, Pinnock, Collins; Ajer (Roerslev 79), Janelt, Yarmoliuk (Schade 63), Damsgaard (Konak 79), Lewis-Potter; Carvalho (Trevitt 88), Mbeumo
Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Mee, Meghoma, Ji-soo, Yogane
Attendance: 61,246
Frank focuses on positives
Head coach Thomas Frank was full of praise for his players despite Saturday's loss in north London - but admitted the Bees’ struggled after taking an early lead.
“There are a lot of positives and also some things we need to do better against a good Tottenham side,” he said.
“The first 28 minutes, aside from the first minute when we scored, they were on top and we struggled with their intensity and pressure; the last 60 we did well and made it very difficult for Tottenham.
“But they have a stand that’s bigger than our stadium, and that needs to be put into perspective.
“We try to win every game, we fear no one and I like the bravery from my players, but we need to perform over 90 minutes.”
Janelt draws parallels with Man City defeat
Midfielder Vitaly Janelt had a sense of “déjà vu” after Brentford’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Bees, like they did against Manchester City last weekend, took the lead inside the opening 30 seconds but were pegged back before the break.
“We started well but then conceded two goals from our mistakes,” he said.
“The second half was quite good – we had two or three good chances to score an equaliser – but they scored late from a transition.
“In general, we played a decent away game. Tottenham are a good side, and they took their chances.”