Norwich City 1-0 Brentford: Emi Buendia strike extends Championship leaders' cushion to 10 points

Norwich City moved 10 points clear at the top of the Championship as Emi Buendia's sweet strike earned them a sixth successive win and dented second-placed Brentford's automatic promotion chances.

The Canaries had little trouble seeing out victory at Carrow Road after the Argentine cut in from the right to find the bottom corner 26 minutes in.

Brentford's best spell came before the goal, with Sergi Canos making a terrible mess of a glorious close-range chance and top scorer Ivan Toney failing to get a true connection on a volley.

Norwich took control after going ahead, with Teemu Pukki wasting a second one-on-one opening their most notable miss.

But the hosts, with Grant Hanley outstanding in defence, did not need the cushion of a second goal, despite some strong late Brentford pressure, as the Canaries recorded a 22nd league win of the season.

The Bees were looking for a third successive victory, but have now lost four of their past six games and lacked precision and tempo in their passing as they were kept at arm's length for much of the evening.

City's top scorer Pukki wasted two excellent chances at either end of the first half as a 19th goal in Norwich colours this season eluded him.

The Finn dinked his first effort wide when he went through one-on-one with keeper David Raya inside two minutes and he was thwarted by the Spaniard on the second occasion, Raya staying on his feet to block another chipped Pukki attempt following a swift counter-attack.

The Bees looked sharper and more incisive before falling behind, spurning two wonderful opportunities of their own.

After a venomous Canos strike forced Tim Krul into a decent save, the Spanish midfielder should have scored a few minutes later only to dribble a follow-up effort wide when Krul could only push away Bryan Mbeumo's driven cross.

But they soon trailed as a sloppy Canos pass surrendered possession and the hosts worked the ball out to the right where Buendia cut in, evaded a couple of weak challenges and drilled a low shot into the far corner.

The Bees lacked cohesion thereafter, too often misplacing passes and allowing the home side to recover their defensive positions.

Norwich looked far likelier to score the second goal, Pukki smashing an effort wide and hitting an 18-yard shot that forced Raya into action, while defender Ben Gibson tamely headed at the keeper from a free-kick.

Toney and Henrik Dalsgaard were both off target late on, but the visitors could not force a leveller as Norwich made it 15 consecutive league games without losing at home for the first time since April 1987.

Norwich manager Daniel Farke: "It was a spotlight game between two of the best teams in the league and I thought it was a well-deserved win.

"We didn't allow them many proper chances and we had many good situations and should really have scored more goals. I must congratulate all my players. It was a good performance.

"To have 73 points at this stage of the season is an outstanding achievement. It's seven points more than we had when we went on to win title two years ago and 11 points more than Leeds had last season.

"We are in a great position but there is no guarantee that it will be the same in the final 12 games. We have to keep this going to get what we want to be."

Brentford boss Thomas Frank: "Congratulations to Norwich. I think they are 100 per cent certain to be promoted.

"That is not mind games or anything like that, it's based on the quality of their performances this season. They are now 10 points clear, they have the same team who won promotion two years ago, no injuries and have an excellent coach in Daniel.

"Norwich deserved to win because they created more chances. Our performance might have been good enough against many teams in this league but not the number-one team. I am disappointed that we could not produce our best against them.

"We needed to be better on the ball and in our decision making and needed to create more. We have to remember that we are still in a good position."