Brentford keep pace in European race with win away to Southampton

Ivan Toney scored one goal and assisted another as Brentford picked up a workmanlike 2-0 victory over Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday.

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The victory sends Brentford (41 points) past Fulham and into 8th place in the Premier League table, now just a point behind 6th-place Liverpool and 7th-place Brighton in what is shaping up to be the unlikeliest of battles for European qualification. Southampton (22 points – 20th place), meanwhile, remain bottom of the table, two points off safety having now played one more game than all but one team ahead of them.

Brentford dominated play for the entirety of the first half, and eventually got their just reward as Toney poked home Christian Norgaard’s flicked-on header at the back post for his 16th PL goal of the season (3rd-most, behind Erling Haaland’s 28 and Harry Kane’s 20).

WATCH SOUTHAMPTON vs BRENTFORD FULL MATCH REPLAY

Despite having two-thirds of possession in the game and trailing for nearly an hour, Southampton managed just 0.51 xG on seven shots in total (one on target). Brentford played their typical rope-a-dope style to perfection, patiently awaiting quality scoring chances rather than frivolously chasing quantity. They had just two shots on target on the night, the second of which also found the back of the net deep into second-half stoppage time.

Toney headed a long ball from David Raya in behind the Southampton defense, and Yoane Wissa chased it down and slotted a cool finish past Gavin Bazunu to seal all three points.

Brentford will host relegation-battling Leicester (24 points – 16th place) in west London on Saturday (11 am ET), at the same time Southampton host top-four-chasing Tottenham (48 points –