Brentford suffered an agonising late loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday, but Bees fans can take a crumb of comfort from how freakish the circumstances of the defeat were.

Despite their fabled ability to score last-gasp goals in 'Fergie Time', the Red Devils' 2-1 victory over Brentford marked the first time in Premier League history that United had won a game in which they trailed going into stoppage-time.

What made the result even more unlikely was Brentford's exceptional ability to protect leads since their promotion to the top flight.

During the 2021/22 campaign, Brentford didn’t lose a single game they took the lead in (13 wins, four draws), while the following season it happened just once – at home to Newcastle in April 2023.

The Bees’ final record last season after scoring the first goal was 15 wins, six draws and just a single loss. Overall, Brentford have won 64 per cent of the Premier League games they have taken the lead in, and lost just four per cent of them.

United's Scott McTominay-inspired turnaround was therefore very much the exception to the norm.

One player who certainly didn't deserve to be on the losing side at Old Trafford was Brentford's defensive rock Ethan Pinnock, who has again been simply outstanding for Thomas Frank's team this season.

The Jamaica international turned in a superb performance at the Theatre of Dreams, the centre-back admirably supported by Kristoffer Ajer and Nathan Collins at the heart of Brentford's backline.

Pinnock clocked up some staggering numbers at Old Trafford that complement a raft of fantastic statistics across the 2023/24 campaign so far.

We have to start with Pinnock’s amazing clearance stats; the 30-year-old currently top of the charts for most clearances in the Premier League with 57 in total.

Incredibly, 17 of those were in Saturday’s game - with Pinnock having cleared the ball on 11 occasions by half time. To put that figure in context, no one in the top flight made more clearances in a game last weekend than the Bees centre-back did against United.

As a unit, Brentford were fantastic at clearing danger and keeping United at bay - the hosts forced into pumping balls into the box for Collins, Ajer and Pinnock to gobble up.

In total, Brentford made 42 clearances at Old Trafford, meaning that Pinnock made up 40 per cent of those.

Pinnock was fully prepared to put his body on the line to stem United’s attacks - his five blocked shots more than any player on either side - and no one on the pitch made more interceptions (three).

The most aerially dominant defender in the Premier League, with 36 aerials won, Pinnock has often been head and shoulders above his opposition this season - and Saturday's defeat was particularly cruel on the 30-year-old.

Written by Richard Cole, Playmaker Stats @playmaker_EN