Brentford have moved up into the Premier League top four after comfortably beating Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
Two moments of rash defending costs the hosts, as Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo scored the goals which sealed the three points for Thomas Frank’s men.
With Fulham down to 10 men late on, Mbeumo pounced to add a third goal in injury time to put the icing on the cake in a perfect West London derby victory.
Fulham defender Issa Diop’s lackadaisical backpass allowed Wissa to initially open the scoring shortly before half-time.
Then Tim Ream’s clumsy challenge on Wissa in the area resulted in a penalty and a second yellow card for the American, with Mbeumo converting from the spot.
After a remarkable smash and grab victory at Goodison Park last weekend, Fulham were punished for a similarly below-par display by a ruthless Brentford side.
Despite Aleksandr Mitrovic missing out with injury, spirits were boosted in the Fulham camp by the return of influential midfielder Joao Palhinha, who was named a substitute.
Andreas Pereira and Bobby Decordova-Reid – the two players who linked up for the winner at Everton – came into the side, and looked like the most threatening players in a Fulham shirt.
However, Brentford have good form at Craven Cottage, despite a 3-2 defeat here last season, as the Bees were unbeaten in their five prior visits to last season.
In a first half of very few opportunities though, the breakthrough came just a minute remaining of the opening 45 minutes.
In a moment that Diop will quickly want to forget, his lazy backpass was far too short to reach goalkeeper Bernd Leno, Wissa pounced and rounded the German in goal and kept his composure to roll the ball into an empty net.
Despite the setback, Fulham showed promising signs early in the second half, and came close when Decordova-Reid struck the bar with Mark Flekken rooted to the spot in goal.
Soon after though, Brentford took control of proceedings and shortly after that minor scare, Brentford came very close to doubling their lead.
Mbeumo’s run down the right-hand side opened up space for him to cross, but as the ball was just behind Wissa, the clearance fell to Mathias Jensen, whose volley into the ground forced Leno into a smart stop.
The visitors would not have to wait long to find that all-important second though, as Kevin Schade’s header put Wissa through and was impeded by Ream in the area, causing Darren Bond to point to the spot.
Ream was given a second yellow card for the foul, as protestation also saw Harrison Reed booked for dissent.
Mbeumo stayed calm and fired home from the spot off the inside of Leno’s right-hand post, giving the keeper no chance from 12 yards.
With a man advantage, Brentford continued to dominate the game and managed it perfectly and would round off the win in style with a third goal in stoppage time.
