Kristoffer Ajer scored a last-gasp equaliser to claim an unlikely draw for Brentford against Manchester United.
Brentford dominated the Premier League clash, but looked to have lost the game when Mason Mount came off the bench to score in the 97th minute. Thomas Frank’s side refused to be beaten though and Ivan Toney pulled the ball back for Ajer to smash home seconds after Mount’s goal.
United are now 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, though they do have a game in hand over the Birmingham side. Arguably this was a game they should have lost, with Brentford the better team for much of the 90 minutes.
It was a largely uninspiring performance from United, who struggled to deal with Brentford’s fast-paced attack. There was very little urgency about the visitors’ play and they failed to threaten the Bees’ goal.
By comparison, Brentford were all over Ten Hag’s side and their first-half dominance was shown by the fact they had 34 touches in United’s box, compared to just seven for the Red Devils in the hosts’. The Red Devils have now faced more shots than any other side in the Premier League, far from an encouraging statistic.
Rasmus Hojlund, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho offered little going forward. A lack of quality going forward has been an issue for United all season and it is one that they have shown no signs of solving.
The one bright spot for United from Saturday’s game was Andre Onana’s performance. The keeper put in one of his best displays in a United shirt to keep his side in the game, pulling off a number of impressive saves.
He will hope to build on that during what has been a decidedly mixed debut season. But Onana’s wait for back-to-back clean sheets in the Premier League will now go on, with November being the last time he achieved the feat.
On a day when most of their relegation rivals failed to pick up wins, Brentford had a huge chance to pull away. They dominated Saturday’s game, creating chance after chance.
Ivan Toney hit the post in the first half after going one-on-one with Onana, while Yoane Wissa clipped the woodwork with a spectacular volley just before the hour mark. Despite being on top, the Bees were forced to settle for a draw.
They remain just five points above the drop zone and will not have many better chances to pick up valuable wins. Thomas Frank’s side have only eight games left this season to secure their place in the top-flight next term.
Manchester United’s injury curse shows no sign of letting up as they lost two more players during Saturday’s game. Raphael Varane was forced off at half-time, with Harry Maguire replacing him.
Then with 20 minutes to go, Victor Lindelof went down with an issue and had to be replaced by Lisandro Martinez. The frequent issues are causing major headaches for Ten Hag, who has barely been able to feature a settled defence.
That lack of familiarity almost cost United dearly at Brentford, with the Bees carving them open time and time again. Though they were able to hold on, that was more due to their hosts’ prolificacy than it was United’s defending.
Five days after scoring in England’s thrilling draw with Belgium, Ivan Toney sent another reminder of why he should be Harry Kane’s back-up at Euro 2024. The Brentford captain led his side from the front, causing all sorts of trouble for the United defence.
He hit the post in the first half and also had a goal disallowed for offside after the break, among plenty of other chances. He capped his performance off with a brilliant assist for Ajer’s late equaliser. It was an impressive display from the striker, as he should all the attributes the Three Lions are looking for.