10-man Brentford fell to a 2-0 Premier League defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion at American Express Stadium.
Diego Gómez opened the scoring with a long-range strike before Igor Thiago was sent off following a VAR review midway through the first half. Pascal Gross doubled the Seagulls’ advantage from the penalty spot shortly before the break.
Brentford head coach Keith Andrews made one change to his starting XI, with Aaron Hickey replacing Mathias Jensen. The fixture marked Brentford’s 200th Premier League game.
Brighton created two early chances. Gross cushioned a cross from the left into the path of Maxim De Cuyper, who headed wide from inside the six-yard box under pressure from Kristoffer Ajer.
Gross then swung in a deep corner which Gómez bundled wide at the back post.
The Bees responded with two opportunities in quick succession. Sepp van den Berg’s long ball released Thiago, who got goalside of Lewis Dunk and attempted to lob Bart Verbruggen, but his effort lacked power and was comfortably held by the keeper.
Moments later, Ajer rose above the crowd to meet Keane Lewis-Potter’s in-swinging corner, heading onto the roof of the net.
Brighton took the lead on 15 minutes. Michael Kayode headed João Costinha’s cross from the right clear, but Gómez collected the loose ball 25 yards out and sent an unstoppable strike into the top corner.
The hosts passed up a chance to double their advantage shortly after the restart. Gross released Charalampos Kostoulas, whose shot was straight at Caoimhín Kelleher.
Brentford were reduced to 10 players midway through the first half. Thiago was initially booked following a tussle with Chema Andrés, but referee Michael Oliver upgraded the yellow card to a red after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor.
Gómez headed a delivery from the left wide at the back post before Luka Vušković’s long-range effort flew over the crossbar.
The Seagulls were awarded a penalty on 40 minutes when Lewis-Potter pulled Vušković down as a corner came into the box. Gross stepped up and slammed the spot-kick into the top corner, giving Kelleher no chance.
Kelleher was called into action again on the stroke of half-time, pushing away Yasin Ayari’s swerving strike from 20 yards.
Andrews made two changes at the start of the second half as Brentford adjusted to playing with 10 men, introducing Nathan Collins and Yehor Yarmoliuk for Hickey and Ouattara.
Brighton quickly resumed their pressure. Gross drifted out to the left and crossed for De Cuyper, whose acrobatic effort bounced wide, before Kelleher held Kostoulas’ header from Olivier Boscagli’s delivery.
De Cuyper then glanced Costinha’s cross wide of the post. Moments later, a deep corner dropped to Kostoulas at the back post, but Kevin Schade charged down his shot.
Brentford enjoyed a spell of pressure midway through the second half. Substitute Jensen, making his 250th league appearance for the Bees, delivered two corners in quick succession before Brighton dealt with one of Kayode’s long throws.
Ayari then threatened three times in quick succession. His curling strike from just outside the box took a wicked deflection off Ajer’s back and looped narrowly over the crossbar.
After Schade headed away Gross’ corner, the ball dropped to Ayari, who flashed a shot across the face of goal and wide of the far post.
Gross then found the midfielder inside the box, but his effort under pressure from Collins was comfortably held by Kelleher.
Two of Brentford’s substitutes combined as the Bees threatened late on. El Hadji Malick Diouf fed Callum Wilson down the left and his cross picked out Schade in the penalty area, but the winger’s effort at full stretch flew wide.
At the other end, in the final action of the game, Jack Hinshelwood drove forward before dragging a shot wide from 25 yards.
Brighton and Hove Albion (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Costinha, Vušković, Dunk, Boscagli; Gross, Chema (Wieffer HT); Gómez (Yalcouyé 90+3), Ayari (Hinshelwood 78), De Cuyper (Minteh 82); Kostoulas (Rutter 82)
Subs not used: Steele, Hadjam, Kadıoğlu, Svoboda
Brentford (4-3-3): Kelleher; Kayode, Ajer, van den Berg (Wilson 69), Hickey (Collins HT); Janelt, Sangaré (Jensen 59), Lewis-Potter (Diouf 59); Ouattara (Yarmoliuk HT), Thiago (red card 23), Schade
Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Schuster, Anthony, Damsgaard
Attendance: 31,629
Andrews: We need to learn and grow
Reaction: Keith Andrews on Brighton defeat
Keith Andrews said Brentford must learn from the key moments which made their task increasingly difficult on the south coast.
“It’s a difficult place to come,” said the Bees head coach. “The way they’re playing, it was always going to require a very good performance to get what we wanted from the game.
“We obviously gave them a leg-up with the sending-off and the penalty. It then becomes very difficult. We need to learn from that, grow as a group and react in better ways.”
Ajer: We showed fight and spirit
Reaction: Kris Ajer on Brighton defeat
Kristoffer Ajer expressed his disappointment after Brentford’s defeat but praised the fight shown by the 10-man Bees.
“We came here with a clear plan, but they scored a wonder goal and we had a man sent off, which made it really difficult against a strong Brighton side,” he said.
Asked what Andrews demanded at half-time, Ajer replied: “Fight and spirit, which I think we showed. We would have liked to create more in the second half; we weren’t really close to getting back into the game.
“But we stood up well and defended. That’s something we take pride in, but we wanted to come here and put in a much better performance.”