Brentford registered their first away win of the season as they hammered Southampton with a 5-0 victory at St Mary’s.
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Kevin Schade gave the Bees an early lead with a confident finish after combining nicely with Mikkel Damsgaard.
The away side continued to dominate and thought they had doubled the lead early in the second half through Sepp van den Berg’s header, but the referee overturned the goal following consultation with the VAR for a foul in the build-up.
That did not deter Thomas Frank’s side though and they doubled their advantage soon after with a brilliant finish by Bryan Mbeumo, before the Cameroonian netted a well-taken penalty.
Keane Lewis-Potter and Yoane Wissa then wrapped things up with goals in stoppage time.
Ivan Juric remains without a win as Southampton boss with the club bottom of the table, 10 points from safety, while Brentford move up to 10th.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 |
Wolves
WOL
|
19 | -11 | 16 |
| 18 |
Ipswich
IPS
|
20 | -15 | 16 |
| 19 |
Leicester
LEI
|
20 | -21 | 14 |
| 20 |
Southampton
SOU
|
20 | -32 | 6 |
How the match unfolded
The Bees took the lead in the sixth minute as Schade finished coolly past Aaron Ramsdale after being played through by a superb pass from Damsgaard.
They continued to dominate after the goal and went close to doubling their advantage when Christian Norgaard flicked a header against the crossbar.
The second half continued in a similar vein and Brentford thought they had a second after Van den Berg had headed home from a corner, but referee Stuart Attwell disallowed the goal after a VAR review after a foul by Wissa on Jan Bednarek.
Despite this setback, they were still handed another glorious chance to end the match as a contest, with a Schade flick sending Wissa clean through but he blazed his shot over.
Southampton continued to be open at the back, with Wissa then supplying Mbeumo who made no mistake, thumping his shot into the roof of the net.
He scored again from the spot after a foul by Lesley Ugochukwu on Van den Berg.
Lewis-Potter and Wissa added further gloss to the scoreline with fine finishes in stoppage time.
Juric still looking for first win
There were encouraging signs for Juric in his first two matches as Southampton boss, as they performed well at times against West Ham United despite ending on the losing side. They also took the lead away to Crystal Palace before eventually falling to defeat.
This, however, was a different story and a major step back for the new manager, as Saints were well below-par, going behind early and struggling to assert themselves throughout.
Brentford completely controlled both halves, with the home side second to loose balls and unable to create any opportunities of note. They also offered little in attack aside from some forward runs and a dragged shot by Tyler Dibling.
Southampton were ultimately lucky to still be in the contest for as long as they were given Brentford’s wastefulness in front of goal during the early part of the match. A continuation of defensive lapses by the home side meant they were on the end of another heavy defeat.
Juric’s side can at least take a bit of respite from their league struggles as they face Swansea City next in the third round of the FA Cup in eight days.
Bees finally off the mark on the road
Frank’s side were fully deserving of their first away win of the campaign and will hope this can provide a springboard to more consistent results on the road in 2025.
Schade’s goal early on settled the side and they could have wrapped the game up in the first half, with Norgaard hitting the bar and the influential Damsgaard skewing an effort just wide of the post from outside the area.
Damsgaard created the opening goal with a pinpoint pass and showed his class throughout in an impressive creative performance.
The chances kept coming in the second half but it took some time to earn the second goal, with Wissa guilty of squandering a good chance when put clean through. But Wissa deserves credit for unselfishly squaring to Mbeumo when put in a similarly dangerous attacking situation just moments later, eventually getting his goal in stoppage time.
Brentford now turn to FA Cup action, with a home tie against Plymouth Argyle next week.
Club reports
Southampton report | Brentford report
What the managers said
Ivan Juric: "There was only 15 minutes when we played well. Pressed high, stole the ball, tried to create chances but in every situation, they were better than us. Everything. Nothing to say, really bad. We conceded really stupid goals, psychologically we are really down and I think in this moment we have to be all together. It is our fault, my fault as the manager and we have to understand the situation but stay together and try to do better next time."
Thomas Frank: "That was very, very close to perfection. We gave nothing away throughout ninety minutes, defended extremely well and then we created chance after chance after chance. It could have easily been more than five and I am extremely proud of this performance in many ways because Southampton are struggling a little bit."
Next PL fixtures
Key facts
Southampton have won only six points from their opening 20 Premier League matches this season (W1 D3 L16), equaling the worst points tally by a side at this stage of the campaign in the competition (Sunderland in 2005/06).
Brentford won their first away Premier League game of the season, ending their nine-game winless run on the road (D2 L7). This was the Bees’ biggest winning margin in the competition, and their biggest league win since April 2021 v Preston North End (5-0).
Bryan Mbeumo has scored in 10 Premier League matches for Brentford this season, with only Mohamed Salah (14) and Alexander Isak (11) netting across more games in the competition this season.
Schade has been directly involved in five goals across his last five Premier League starts (four goals, one assist), after managing just one contribution in his first 15 starts in the competition (one goal).
