Brighton beat Brentford 2-0 at the Falmer Stadium on Sunday, scoring either side of a red card for Brentford's Igor Thiago to move to 22 points from 10 Premier League games.
Decisive moments
Diego Gómez put Brighton ahead in the 15th minute. Nine minutes later Thiago was shown a red card, and Brentford played the rest of the match with ten men.
Pascal Groß made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute. FPL lists him as Brighton's first-choice penalty taker.
Brighton collected four bookings of their own: Chema Andrés (22), Olivier Boscagli (27), Mats Wieffer (51) and Lewis Dunk (61). Brentford's Kristoffer Ajer (5) and Kevin Schade (69) were also cautioned.
Thiago's dismissal removed Brentford's main attacking threat. Expected goals data via Fantasy Premier League, which measures the quality of chances created, had him as the club's top player this season on 4.11 xG, against two goals scored.
What the numbers say
The statistics show a one-sided game. Brighton had 75% of the possession to Brentford's 25% and took 20 shots to their opponents' four.
- Shots: Brighton 20 (six on target, nine off target, five blocked), Brentford 4 (three off target, one blocked)
- Corners: Brighton 7, Brentford 3
- Fouls: Brighton 11, Brentford 7
- Offsides: Brighton 1, Brentford 3
Brighton came into the game having won four of their last five, including a 3-0 home win over Arsenal. Brentford's last outing was a 3-0 home win over Chelsea. Brentford could not build on that against a side who now have seven clean sheets in 10 league games.
It was a third successive win for Brighton over Brentford. They also won 2-1 at home in November 2025 and 2-0 away in February 2026.
What it means
Brighton stay second, five points behind leaders Arsenal, who have 27 points from 10 games. Their goal difference of plus 19 is the best of the clubs in the top two. Over the season they average 2.6 goals per game and concede 0.7, which gives them 2.2 points per game.
Brentford are eighth on 14 points, with three wins and a goal difference of plus five. They average 1.4 points per game and have three clean sheets. They are eight points behind Brighton.
MFF's match model had predicted a 1-0 Brighton win, giving them a 57% chance, with 23% for a draw and 20% for a Brentford win. It picked the right winner but the wrong score.
Add MFF as a preferred source on GoogleSee our stats first in Google's Top Stories and AI answers