Luton’s limited gameplan worked for 45 minutes but Brentford’s undoubted superiority was rammed home in the second half during their dominant victory. Brentford bombarded their opponents with 27 shots and the final score was the least they merited against a team that showed a whiff of attacking ambition only during the final 20 minutes.
Despite controlling the first half, Brentford had to wait for the breakthrough, with the striker Neal Maupay scoring his second goal since returning to the club. Ben Mee’s deflected header doubled their lead but the substitute Jacob Brown scored from a rare Luton attack. Any hope of a comeback was quickly snuffed out with Shandon Baptiste adding a deserved third goal for Brentford.
Thomas Frank, Brentford’s head coach, said: “I’m very pleased with the overall performance. It showed we are going in the right direction, with adding the next layers to the team. We can have one gameplan against a top team like Arsenal and then against Luton we handled a different challenge.
“It’s not just about possession, we had over 70 % but more importantly is 27 shots which is very impressive. The counter-pressing and pressing was phenomenal.”
Rob Edwards had no complaints about the result but was frustrated by the goals his team conceded. The Luton manager said: “They deserved the win. We’ve gone away from giving gifts away recently but we did that today. It was a bit of an off day for us with the ball. We were good without it, but not with it.”
Brentford dominated possession early on but Luton’s defensive tactics limited their space to attack. Christian Nørgaard sent in a long throw that was flicked on by Ethan Pinnock but Maupay’s header was straight at the goalkeeper, Thomas Kaminski.
Brentford were starting to look more threatening and Bryan Mbeumo, arguably their most dangerous attacker, cut inside from the right touchline but his shot from the edge of the area flew high and wide.
Mbeumo again threatened from a direct run towards the goal, but his fizzing strike flicked off a defender and out for a corner. The pressure was mounting towards the break with Yoane Wissa’s strike from distance spilled initially by Kaminski before he gathered the ball.
Luton offered nothing in the final third in the first half – failing to record a single shot – and were starved of the ball in a one-sided encounter but Brentford needed to be patient after failing to break them down.
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Tom Lockyer was forced off at half-time, with Brown replacing him, after the Luton captain picked up a back injury during the first half. The defender’s fitness is a concern heading into home fixtures against the top two, Arsenal and Manchester City, over the next week.
Luton had not managed a clean sheet all season and their hopes of an overdue shutout lasted four minutes into the second half. Mee’s shot ricocheted off Amari’i Bell, but the ball fell kindly to Maupay and the Everton loanee converted from close range. Tahith Chong was booked for dissent after claiming he was fouled in the buildup to the goal.
Brentford were in control and quickly doubled their lead. Mee’s header from Mbeumo’s corner was deflected in off Carlton Morris to leave Luton in trouble.
It was no surprise when Andros Townsend was introduced alongside the striker Elijah Adebayo on the hour mark. Out of nothing, Ross Barkley released Brown and he showed composure to drift infield and place a low shot past Mark Flekken, to give Luton hope of an unlikely comeback. It was Brown’s second goal from off the bench in a week after scoring the winner against Palace at Kenilworth Road.
Brentford did not panic and sealed the victory with a third after the substitutes Keane Lewis-Potter and Shandon Baptiste combined. Lewis-Potter’s low shot was parried by Kaminski, but Baptiste reacted quickest to fire home from close range.
Luton thought they had scored a second goal in the 90th minute but Chong’s header from Townsend’s cross was ruled out for offside. Brentford should have added a fourth goal deep into injury time but the lively Lewis-Potter blasted over from six yards.
