Maupay scores as Bees lose to Brighton
Neal Maupay scored against his former club to help consign Brentford to a Boxing Day defeat.
The Seagulls, who hadn’t won since September, went ahead on 34 minutes when Leandro Trossard collected Enock Mwepu’s ball down the middle and lobbed keeper Álvaro Fernández.
Worse followed for the Bees eight minutes later when Maupay thumped a superb strike into the top corner of the net from near the edge of the penalty area.
The visitors were much better after the interval but there was no way back.
Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez produced fine saves to deny Shandon Baptiste and Ethan Pinnock, who was later also denied by Marc Cucurella’s clearance off the line.
The result leaves Brentford 13th in the Premier League table – nine points clear of the bottom three.
Brentford: Fernandez, Pinnock, Jansson, Sorensen, Thompson (Ghoddos 66), Canos, Jensen (Onyeka 45), Norgaard, Baptiste, Mbeumo (Wissa 41), Toney.
Subs not used: Cox, Forss, Peart-Harris, Bidstrup, Stevens.
