Goals from Christian Nørgaard and Ivan Toney secured Brentford a crucial 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Bees defended superbly in the Black Country, keeping a clean sheet against a free-scoring Wolves side.

A superb save from Mark Flekken in the first half and a disallowed Craig Dawson header in the second period helped secure the victory, which lifts the west Londoners up to 14th in the Premier League table.

Nørgaard header puts Bees ahead

Thomas Frank named an unchanged team for just the second time this season, as he stuck with the same side that lost 3-1 to Manchester City on Monday night.

Saman Ghoddos was among the substitutes having returned from the Asian Cup; Iran exiting the tournament with a semi-final defeat to Qatar.

Wolves also make no changes from their last game - an impressive 4-2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Former Brentford goalkeeper Dan Bentley was among the substitutes for Gary O'Neil's side.

Brentford had an early penalty appeal, when Vitaly Janelt's cross was blocked by the arm of João Gomes from close range, but the referee and VAR decided against giving a spot kick.

Wolves' first chance of the game was a Rayan Aït-Nouri effort from outside the area which, despite dipping as it headed towards the Brentford goal, narrowly cleared Mark Flekken's crossbar.

With just over 10 minutes on the clock, Neal Maupay had two good chances to put the Bees ahead. The first came thanks to a brilliant tackle from Nathan Collins, which found the centre-forward inside the final third, but José Sá made himself big and deflected the attempt out for a corner.

From the subsequent set-piece, a short pass to Mathias Jensen saw the Dane whip a ball into the penalty area, which Maupay met well with his head at the front post, but Sá, again, got down well to keep the game goalless.

With Matheus Cunha off the pitch with an injury, the visitors were a man stronger so close to taking advantage. A superb, teasing cross from Sergio Reguilón headed for Collins at the back post, but Aït-Nouri blocked it on the line. The ball was then played back to Roerslev, who blazed over from a tight angle six yards out.

Maupay had another chance with half an hour gone, when some more superb defending from Collins played the Frenchman in again. After a dummy from him inside the area, his shot lacked venom and was saved comfortably by Sá.

Brentford's pressure led to the opener on 35 minutes. A great corner from Reguilón was played directly into the six-yard box and, seemingly unchallenged, Nørgaard headed in from close range.

After a standout performance against City on Monday, Flekken was back at it again with another superb stop. A cross from Sarabia was floated over Ben Mee's head and fell to Pedro Neto, who met it with his forehead at the back post, but the Bees keeper clawed it off his line and on to the post, before it was hooked away and the danger was cleared.

Bees show defensive resolve before Toney doubles advantage

Five minutes into the second half, Wolves hit the post in their pursuit of an equaliser. A quick counter attack saw the ball played wide to Neto, who jinked his way into the area, before his reverse shot crashed off the woodwork.

The hosts came even closer to a leveller moments later, when they had the ball in the back of the net. From the second phase of a corner, Neto swung a cross into the area and it was met by a glancing header from Dawson, which found its way past Flekken. VAR checked it and ruled that the centre-back was offside, and the goal was ruled out.

Half chances from Aït-Nouri and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde followed the disallowed goal, as the Bees tried to take the sting out of the game at Molineux.

Toney plucked a Collins clearance out the air and had a chance of his own with less than 20 minutes to go, with the west Londoners tentatively looking for a second.

And it was Brentford talisman Toney who doubled the lead. Vitaly Janelt won the ball back brilliantly with a deft flick in the final third and, after playing a one-two with Yehor Yarmoliuk, he sent a cross into the area. Toney was the recipient and he clinically finished past Sá.

Wolves: Sá, Kilman, Dawson, Toti (Fraser 46), Semedo (Doherty 83), Lemina, Gomes (Doyle 62), Aït-Nouri, Sarabia, Neto, Cunha (Bellegarde 21)

Subs not used: Bentley, S Bueno, H Bueno, Traore, Chirewa

Brentford: Flekken, Collins, Pinnock, Mee, Roerslev, Jensen (Yarmoliuk 69), Nørgaard (Ajer 85), Janelt (Baptiste 85), Reguilón, Toney, Maupay (Lewis-Potter 76)

Subs not used: Strakosha, Zanka, Brierley, Damsgaard, Ghoddos

Frank delighted with clean sheet after pre-match preparations

Thomas Frank revealed that a good defensive performance was the Bees' main area of focus on Saturday - which is something that came to fruition in the victory.

Frank said that a clean sheet was frequently spoken about during the week leading up to the clash against Wolves, so the Bees boss was delighted with the win and the shutout in the Black Country.

“I’m very happy. I am so pleased and proud of the players, and especially their defensive urgency; I really loved the mentality and the determination," Frank smiled.

“We know, when we are on it, we are one of the good defensive sides in the league, and we have lacked that level of consistency or urgency or whatever in too many games - it feels like it's been three years since we had a clean sheet! 

“The clean-sheet mentality was a big focus today. We spoke about it during the week, in training and in meetings, and, I know it sounds simple, but I said, ‘clean sheet and we’ll win the game’, because we’ll always score goals. 

“I'm happy with the way we defended as a team: our principles, but also the 50/50 duels, closing down one-on-one situations, running hard to get under the ball, and good blocks. I was so pleased with that side of the game.” 

Reguilón: Set-pieces can be crucial

Sergio Reguilón spoke about the importance of set-pieces after Brentford's 2-0 win at Wolves.

The on-loan full-back played a superb game at Molineux, winning four tackles and seven duels and delivering the corner that Christian Nørgaard headed home to open the scoring in the first half.

“We work a lot, a lot, a lot [on set-pieces]. Attacking a lot, defensive a lot. This can bring out points for us and you can see that in the first goal. We opened the game with a set-piece; it can be the difference.”