Brentford recorded their first home Premier League win since December with a 4-2 win over Brighton, who had Joao Pedro sent off and also had Jan Paul van Hecke stretchered off with a head injury.
Bryan Mbeumo was the man at the heart of the victory for the Bees, scoring two and setting up Yoane Wissa for another.
It was a sparkling performance from the winger, who now has 18 Premier League goals this season.
Goalscorers Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa celebrate after Brentford extend their lead against Brighton
Danny Welbeck headed Brighton level at the end of the first half but Brentford looked to be cruising to victory at 3-1 up when Joao Pedro was shown a straight red card for violent conduct after an altercation with Nathan Collins.
As the ball hung in the air from Bart Verbruggen’s punt, Pedro tussled with Collins and, in a fit of petulance, flung an arm into the face of the Brentford defender. VAR judged violent conduct on the part of Pedro, who was dismissed to leave Brighton to endure half an hour a player short.
But Brighton made it a tricky final quarter when Kaoru Mitoma got the game back to 3-2.
However, the home side wrapped up the points in stoppage time when Christian Norgaard found the net. The result keeps alive Brentford’s outside hopes of qualifying for Europe.
Christian Norgaard is mobbed by his team-mates after scoring Brentford’s fourth goal against Brighton
The game ended on a sour note when Brighton defender Van Hecke had to receive eight minutes of medical treatment and was stretchered off requiring oxygen after a clash of heads. Although looking potentially like a serious injury, the club confirmed Van Hecke was discharged from hospital on Saturday evening.
Brighton are now five without a win in the Premier League. During the second half the away fans chanted ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ towards Hurzeler following a substitution to bring off Danny Welbeck while down to 10.
When asked what he thought about the chants, Hurzeler replied: “That’s fine. They have their opinion. The team played well after that.”
As Brighton’s European hopes begin to dwindle, Hurzeler added: “In the end I am responsible for that, I have to find the right solutions.
“We know there are some things that aren’t perfectly ongoing. We’re struggling with availability, struggling with the connections on the pitch. We [make] too many individual mistakes. That’s why I’m here, to find solutions.”
Mbeumo and Wissa are a deadly duo
Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones:
Mbeumo and Wissa are a phenomenal duo. The numbers are quite staggering considering they play for a team not in the top half. Mbeumo’s double against Brighton means he has now scored 18 times this season – only Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak are ahead of him in the Golden Boot race.
His mate Wissa is just two behind him on 16 goals. If you throw their assists into the mix too then Mbeumo and Wissa have 43 goal involvements between them this season. Only Isak and Jacob Murphy, who have 46 goal involvements, can better that return when it comes to club team-mates and goal involvements.
The result kept alive Brentford’s outside hopes of qualifying for Europe. That is the level their fantastically deadly duo should be playing at.
“As a pair, is there anyone who has [scored more]?” said Bees boss Thomas Frank. “I know Salah has been ridiculous, you’ll find a Liverpool player that has more between the two of them, but as a consistent pair? That’s an incredible achievement from the two of them.
“When you consistently over the last six seasons have produced top scorers, that must be something we’re doing right.
“I’m very happy that [Mbeumo] is shining and is the main man now for us. But I think it’s a duo, him and Wissa.”
