This match will be remembered for what mattered the most: that Christian Eriksen returned, receiving the most rapturous of receptions, to competitive football and completed 38 accomplished minutes for Brentford as a substitute. It was goosebump-inducing to see Eriksen playing again and there were plenty of suggestions he can improve Brentford.
There were also huge warning signs they will need him to, because this defeat against an increasingly convincing Newcastle may have dire consequences for their season.
The away side were helped significantly by Josh Dasilva’s early red card but capitalised admirably, scoring well-worked goals through Joelinton and Joe Willock before the interval and seeing things out calmly from there.
They move four points clear of the relegation zone but Brentford are careering towards it.
While it is hard to legislate for an 11th-minute dismissal this was hardly an upheaval of the formbook. Brentford have now taken one point from their past eight games and if a survivor was to be picked between them and Newcastle, who have earned 15 from seven, it would not be a contest.
Eriksen came on to an ovation from virtually everyone in the stadium, including Newcastle’s players, before showing glimpses of his ability to find spaces and pick a pass. Thomas Frank thinks it will take three or four games for him to find his rhythm so it was encouraging to see a clever pass in the inside-right position almost cause havoc with his first involvement, while a long release towards Bryan Mbeumo came within inches of sending the forward through.
“It was a big moment for everyone involved in football,” Frank said. “It was fantastic to see he got a big reception: a big moment for Christian and his family. It was nice to see and hopefully he should now talk only with his feet, and speak about football instead of anything else.”
Brentford were visibly lifted when Eriksen came on but the damage had already been done. The decision to send Dasilva off was made protractedly, and entirely correctly, with the use of VAR. It reversed a call that had originally gone Brentford’s way. Their fans were right to applaud when Yoane Wissa, a striker, chased back to take the ball off the toes of a poised Jonjo Shelvey; they were then relieved as, when the ball ran loose outside the box, Mike Dean awarded them a free-kick for Matt Targett’s challenge on Dasilva.
As soon as slow-motion footage became available, though, it was clear that would not hold. The right wing-back Dasilva had tried to get across Targett and let the ball run beyond him but planted a high right foot on to his opponent’s lower leg. Targett required treatment and, in the meantime, Dean was readied for a journey to his pitchside monitor. The red card was delivered within seconds and Frank’s plans were ruined before a crucial fixture had assumed any clear pattern.
“It feels a little bit unfair that we played 10 against 11 for 80 minutes,” he said. “It’s not that it isn’t a red card but it’s such a random situation. I’d understand if one of my players kicked out or took someone down. He’s stepped in front of the ball and tried to put his foot down.”
It took another 10 minutes for Newcastle to wrest control but they could have scored numerous times before the interval, thwarted on three occasions by the superb Brentford keeper David Raya. They still managed to score two fine goals. The breakthrough came when Ryan Fraser, a constant menace down the left who had already laid on a clear chance for Chris Wood, went to work again. This time it was Joelinton on the end of his chipped delivery and the Brazilian headed back across the keeper emphatically, running the length of the pitch to celebrate with Newcastle’s fans in the opposite corner.
Brentford looked to be scraping into the second half with hopes of a comeback intact when, having forced a corner in an increasingly rare foray, the set piece was cleared high towards halfway. For reasons best known to himself the centre-back Fabian Schär was Newcastle’s highest-placed player up the pitch. He took the ball from the sky, and beyond Rico Henry, with a masterfully controlled touch and earned himself a run towards goal. That precision was matched by his pass left to an open Willock, who capped a thrilling sequence with a whipped first-time finish above Raya. “We can never let that goal in, of course we can’t,” Frank said.
They were not breached again, Raya denying Shelvey and Matt Targett among others, but Eriksen’s extended cameo was the only real crumb of comfort.
Newcastle look a good bet to stay up. “It’s going to go right to the wire for those teams that are involved,” Eddie Howe said.
On this evidence Brentford are far more likely to be among them.
