Brentford draw with Tottenham in lively derby
Brentford began their Premier League campaign by picking up a point in an entertaining London derby.
All the goals came in the first half, with Cristian Romero scoring before Bryan Mbeumo equalised for the hosts with a penalty and Yoane Wissa put them ahead before Emerson Royal replied for Tottenham.
Brentford recovered following a poor start and again showed they are more than capable of coping without star striker Ivan Toney, who continues to serve a ban for breaching betting regulations.
After kick-off was delayed by seven minutes because there was temporarily no running water in the stadium, Romero put Spurs ahead by heading in James Maddison’s free-kick – and was immediately substituted, having been involved in an early clash of heads with Mbeumo.
The goal was exacty the beginning to his reign new Tottenham boss Ange Postacoglou will have wanted – but the Bees hit back.
Mbeumo calmly levelled from the spot after Mathias Jensen had been fouled by Son Heung-min, before Rico Henry pulled the ball back from the left for Wissa, who netted with the help of a deflection off Spurs defender Micky van de Ven.
However, Spurs equalised during the fifth of 11 minutes of injury time at the end of the first half.
Keeper Mark Flekken, making his debut following his recent move to west London, could do nothing about an emphatic low strike from Royal after the Brazilian defender had been teed up by Maddison.
Brentford: Flekken, Hickey (Roerslev 73), Collins, Henry, Ajer (Zanka 85), Pinnock, Janelt, Norgaard (Baptiste 73), Jensen (Damsgaard 49), Wissa (Scahde 73), Mbeumo.
Subs not used: Strakosha, Dasilva, Lewis-Potter, Yarmolyuk.
