Brentford

Chris McKenna
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Keith Andrews was not shy in making changes at the break and it almost secured Brentford three points.

Record signing Ibrahim Sangare has had rave reviews for his performances in their first two Premier League games of the season since joining from Lens but he picked up a booking in the first half and was not at his best.

Anthony was one of those half-time substitutes and the former Burnley winger wasted an early chance but showed more attacking threat.

Then Yehor Yarmolyuk played a role in the build-up to the opener before Damsgaard put in the ball which eventually led to Vitaly Janelt's great finish.

Brentford remain unbeaten and if Andrews continues to show bold management then the Bees could be well placed to push on from their ninth-placed finish last season.

If they can maintain their strong record at home it will help, too. They have not lost a game on their own patch since February.

The concern for Andrews is that they have now surrendered four points from winning positions in their three games, having also conceded late in a draw away at Leeds last weekend after an opening game victory over Tottenham.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "We caused ourselves a lot of problems. We were better in the second half. We started fighting more, did the ugly side of the game and played with a bit more conviction. There was a real improvement and I thought the game was there for the taking in the second half.

"The fact we're looking round the place and there is a tinge of disappointment. Nothing is given to you in this league - you have to go and earn it."

On Sunderland's penalty: "I need to be a bit careful. Overall I didn't love the decisions today. In terms of the penalty, I don't have too many qualms about it."

Did you know?

• Brentford have given away more penalties than any other side in the Premier League since the start of last season (nine), conceding from six of them.

• Brentford are unbeaten in each of their last 14 Premier League games in which they've opened the scoring (won, drawn five), though they have drawn four of their last six such games.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Brentford's performance

What did you make of Sunderland's display?

Reaction and analysis to follow - and come back on Monday for a selection of your replies.

There are seven games in the Premier League on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Newcastle v Bournemouth (12:30)

• Brentford v Sunderland

• Brighton v Leeds

• Fulham v Crystal Palace

• Man City v Coventry - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Nottingham Forest v Tottenham - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Hull v Aston Villa (17:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-off times 15:00 BST unless stated.

Follow all of the action and reaction here

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I was spot on with my predictions for both of these teams last week, but I still don't feel very confident about calling the outcome of this game.

Brentford are a brilliant counter-attacking side who seem especially strong at home.

I was erring towards backing the Bees to win, like they did in this fixture last season, but then had second thoughts.

I backed the Black Cats to win their first two matches because they are a well-organised team, with plenty of physicality and also a threat up top.

My concern for them is what happens when European football starts, but that hasn't happened yet. I don't see them losing this.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

Read the full predictions and have your say here

In this week's edition of The Football Interview, Kelly Somers speaks to Brentford head coach Keith Andrews.

They discuss what it was like moving from Ireland to England as a 15-year-old to join Wolves' academy and how he could have potentially been a chef if he didn't make it as a footballer.

He also talks about his journey into management, who has helped him and how far he can take Brentford.

Listen to the full podcast above or on BBC Sounds here

Brentford are aiming to maintain their unbeaten start against a Sunderland side with one win and one defeat so far. BBC Sport takes a look at the key themes ahead of their clash at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday (15:00 BST).

It's been a promising start to the season for the Bees, who have a win and a draw from their first two matches and were a bit unlucky to be pegged back by Leeds last weekend.

None of Brentford's four league goals so far this season have come from Igor Thiago, who provided a division-high 40% of the Bees' top-flight goals last season, which helped earn him the squad's and supporters' player of the year awards.

The Brazilian's total of 22 league goals in 2025-26 was second only to Erling Haaland and he had the best conversion rate of any player to have 25+ shots in the competition last season (26.2%).

Thiago missed a penalty in the opener against Spurs and is yet to score in the league, with five of his seven shots so far off target.

However, he scored in both of Brentford's pre-season friendlies and also found the net as a substitute in the Bees' EFL Cup win at Birmingham last month.

Thiago enjoyed playing Sunderland last season, scoring three goals across the two league meetings.

While Thiago started all but one of Brentford's 38 league games last season, 21 of Wilson Isidor's 32 appearances for Sunderland in last season's Premier League were from the bench, and the Haitian international has come on as a second-half substitute in both of the Black Cats' league games in this campaign.

But lack of minutes does not mean lack of impact. Isidor has made a name for himself as a super-sub – his five Premier League goals from the bench since the start of last season is more than any other player in that time.

Last weekend, he was at it again, coming on and scoring a late winner against Fulham to earn Sunderland their first points of the season.

That was the second time he's scored a game-winning goal in the Premier League and came a year to the day since his only previous one - a 90th-minute goal that saw Sunderland beat Saturday's opponents Brentford 2-1 at the Stadium of Light.

But recent history – and geography – isn't on Sunderland's side. Their last win at Brentford in any competition was in a third-tier meeting in August 1987 – since then they have drawn two and lost two.

Meanwhile, they have won just eight points in their last 16 away Premier League matches in London, losing 12 of those games. They've lost their last three such fixtures, conceding three goals in each - one of those being the 3-0 loss at Brentford in January.

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Brentford boss Keith Andrews has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Sunderland at Gtech Community Stadium (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Midfielder Mathias Jensen remains sidelined with "a little issue" and could miss next week's trip to Bournemouth too. Andrews said: "We'll see how he settles over the next couple of weeks. It's nothing serious, but he certainly won't be available for tomorrow."

• Josh Dasilva, Sepp van den Berg and Antoni Milambo are also unavailable.

• Andrews said he is "really, really pleased" with Brentford's summer transfer business and praised the "astuteness" of the club to get the new players in early doors.

• On record signing Mamadou Sangare: "It didn't take a genius to realise he's a very good player, but for us to get the deal done was impressive. For that to happen he had to want to come here and he made that very clear from our initial conversations."

• He said the "team feel good" and "are in a good place", so "are ready for the challenge" of Sunderland.

• More on Saturday's opposition: "What they did last season was pretty remarkable. The coach organises them very diligently and they can cause you problems in different ways. We will have to do a lot of things really well to get the result."

• He said the "fans were electric" against Tottenham in the opening game of the season "right from the off" and the players fed off it. He hopes for more of the same on Saturday.

Got a question about Brentford? Get in touch here and we'll seek answers from our experts

Steve Sutcliffe, Emlyn Begley and Gary Rose
BBC Sport journalists

Premier League clubs have broke their all-time summer transfer record with spending reaching £3.49bn.

A total of £506.5m was spent on deadline day itself, up from £391m last year.

The total amount spent during the window considerably dwarfs the £1.13bn spent by clubs just five years ago and underlines the power top English clubs have to attract talent, according to figures provided to BBC Sport by Paul Macdonald, founder of FootballTransfers.com.

Three of the 10 most expensive signings in the history of football have happened this summer – with all of them being Premier League signings. In fact, this summer window featured four of the top flight's five most expensive ever deals.

So maybe it is not surprising then that of the 20 most expensive transfers completed, only six were not to clubs in the English top flight.

Indeed, newly-promoted Ipswich have spent more on new signings than the likes of Barcelona, AC Milan, Juventus and reigning European champions PSG.

Premier League clubs as a whole were willing to dip deep into their pockets this summer, as 11 of the 20 clubs broke their transfer records, six of them on more than one occasion.

Coventry, promoted to the Premier League alongside Ipswich and Hull, have done so four times over.

Read more on the Premier League's record-breaking transfer spending

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Brentford Director of football Phil Giles says Keith Andrew's squad "looks really strong" after the club's summer transfer window.

The Bees maintained the vast majority of the core of the team that finished ninth last season, and made five new signings.

Jannik Schuster, Jaidon Anthony, Callum Wilson, Mamadou Sangare and El Hadji Malick Diouf all arrived during the window, while only Frank Onyeka, Ethan Pinnock and Jordan Henderson departed from the senior group.

It follows a summer of change in 2025, which saw long-serving head coach Thomas Frank leave alongside club captain Christian Norgaard, goalkeeper Mark Flekken, and star forwards Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.

"Last summer, we sold more than we bought," Giles told club media.

"The aim this year was to keep the squad together, build on Keith's first season and add some extra quality. I think we did that. Every summer, you need to add some freshness. It makes us less predictable for the opposition and creates competition for places.

"I'm very pleased. They're all coming in to compete for a first-team place. There's always a balance between players who are ready now and development projects. These players were more or less ready to go from day one, which is great.

"By keeping what we had together and adding them, I think the squad looks really strong.

"The players who were here last year know each other, know the coaching staff and understand the style of play. They've already built relationships on the pitch, so we weren't starting from scratch with a lot of new players.

"We've dropped a few additions into a group who already knew what they were doing.

"In theory, that should allow you to make a good start in the league, and I think we've done that. We've played really well during the first couple of games, so it's been positive so far."

Brentford did the following business on transfer deadline day:

• Left-back Jayden Meghoma joined Championship side Portsmouth on a season-long loan deal.

This is your Brentford page. Hit follow if you're on the website and you'll see more Bees content when you visit us. On the app? Hit the bell icon and select news alerts - we'll then send you the best bits.

See how everything unfolded on Tuesday in our live page

What do you think of the Bees' business in the transfer window? Let us know here

Nizaar Kinsella
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford are only working on the sale or loan of fringe players on deadline day.

They say the squad Keith Andrews selected from for his first two Premier League matches will remain unchanged.

BBC Radio London will be bringing you a special show on later on Tuesday examining the transfer business done by Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Tottenham.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, former EFL and National League defender Jamal Fyfield and journalist Charlotte Richardson will be the guests in the studio for the programme, which will run from 22:00 to 00:00 BST, taking in the 23:00 transfer deadline.

Watch the show here later

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We asked you what transfer business Brentford need to complete before Tuesday's 23:00 BST deadline.

Here are some of your comments:

Ralph: If we can buy some real quality, we should. Otherwise, we are fine as we are!

Tom: I'd be happy if we didn't make any more signings. The only thing I think could be worthwhile is making another loan move for a winger. I don't think Gustavo Nunes is ready for Premier League football yet and should go out on loan, along with Kim Ji-soo and Kaye Furo. Fabio Carvalho is an interesting one. He didn't play any minutes against Birmingham which surprised me, so a loan or a sale is probably needed.

Chris: We still need a left-back. Rico Henry has been a great player for us, but alas is injury-prone and not getting any younger. That's where we need to strengthen.

George: We are in the enviable position of needing only to maintain our current squad, not add to it. As we saw against Tottenham, their familiarity and confidence as a group has the potential to make this a very special campaign. If I had to pick any area - we could always use another central defender.

Ralph: If we can buy some real quality, we should. Otherwise, we are fine as we are!

Michael: Excellent transfer window for the Bees. We are no longer a selling club. We will no doubt have another great season.

Tuesday is the final chance of the summer for your Premier League team to do transfer business.

The window closes at 23:00 BST, so teams - and fans - could be in for a late-night transfer scramble.

It has already been a busy window, but whether it turns out to be a day of transfer action or a pretty quiet one for your club, you will be able to keep across it all on BBC Sport.

Follow our live text coverage throughout the day here

Get alerts and keep up to date with all the latest news, insight and fan views for your club

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On this day 10 years ago - 31 August 2016 - Brentford made a crucial signing.

The Bees were embarking on their third successive season in the Championship.

Dean Smith was in charge and Rico Henry joined for a fee worth £1.5m.

Henry's Brentford career has not been plain sailing - the left-back has endured many injuries which could have possibly halted his playing career.

But, 10 years on, he has cemented a place in Brentford folklore.

Referred to as "Mr. Consistent" on the Brentford club website, the 29-year-old played an "instrumental role" in Brentford's journey from the Championship to the Premier League.

With 107 appearances to Henry's name in the Premier League, the speedy full-back has delivered so much but is due to be out of contract at the end of this campaign.

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Leeds United and Brentford.

Here are some of your comments:

Leeds fans

Frank: Leeds need to make the most of their home games. They were paying Brentford too much respect. Brentford are a good side but Leeds are at home and they should be doing better, especially with the number of shots on target.

Andrew: Would have taken a point before the game and definitely at half-time. But we can make changes to turn a game and bring on Premier League quality replacements. The stronger squad now will hopefully mean we can push on.

Neil: A good result but, to be honest, we should have been out of sight by half-time. They were a lot better than us.

David: Did well to come back. Brentford must be wondering how they didn't win.

Brentford fans:

Kev: Should have put this one to bed in the first hour. Played some super football but lacked ruthlessness.

Phil: I remember when we used to jokingly sing "we're the Barcelona of the lower leagues". Now we're the Barcelona of the Premier League.

Sampson: Terrible. Should have won by a lot more. Poor finishing from us.

Paul: Totally dictated the first half and should have had the game won by half-time. VAR and ref let us down with the definite penalty.