Burnley earned their first win of the year and their first in 11 matches thanks to a Jacob Bruun Larsen penalty and great finish from in-form forward David Datro Fofana with a 2-1 victory over 10-man Brentford.

Having lost a 2-0 lead to West Ham United last week Burnley survived a nervy finish at Turf Moor after Kristoffer Ajer’s late goal for a crucial three points that means they are 11 off safety.

How the match unfolded

Vincent Kompany made one change, bringing in Arijanet Muric in goal instead of James Trafford for the first time in the league.

For Brentford, Mathias Jensen replaced the injured Christian Norgaard and Sergio Reguilon returned after recovering from injury.

It was a horrible start for Reguilon, who, after a VAR review, was adjudged to have conceded a penalty and was sent off for pushing over Vitinho from behind as the Burnley was about to shoot.

Bruun Larsen stepped up to convert from the spot, slotting the ball low into the right corner just past the outstretched hands of Mark Flekken.

The Bees came close to equalising via Dara O'Shea as he played a blind backpass behind to Muric, who was instead to the left of him. But the ’keeper scrambled back superbly well to clear the ball off the line and save Ivan Toney’s follow-up effort.

The home side had a huge chance to double their lead when Lorenz Assignon did well to get to the byline and played a low centre across the six-yard box to Datro Fofana, who somehow missed with the goal gaping.

Fofana missed another glorious opportunity, this time sneakily hiding behind Flekken, who unaware of the forward’s position, dropped the ball to his feet, allowing the Chelsea loanee to steal in, but he slipped before he could beat the Brentford keeper.

Burnley’s second came shortly after they nearly conceded the equaliser. In the 60th minute Keane Lewis-Potter managed to break free and run in on goal, only to be stopped just as he was going to shoot by a brilliant Vitinho challenge.

The Clarets recovered the loose ball to play a lovely network of passes from one end to the other, allowing Fofana to right his wrongs and dink in his second double in back-to-back matches. 

The Ivorian has been involved in five of Burnley’s last eight goals.

In the 83rd minute Brentford got a goal back thanks to Shandon Baptiste curling in a well placed cross meeting the head of defender Ajer, who found himself unmarked to direct the ball onto the inside of the post.

For a short moment Brentford thought they equalised via another Baptiste cross found the back of the net through Toney’s header but the captain had fouled Muric. Despite the win Burnley remains in 19th, four points off relegation rivals Luton. Brentford also remained in their position of 15th.

Club reports

Burnley | Brentford

Match officials

Referee: Darren Bond. Assistants: Scott Ledger, Sian Massey-Ellis. Fourth official: Geoff Eltringham. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Mat Wilkes.