Manchester City suffered a rare home defeat as they were hit by an Ivan Toney sucker punch in stoppage time, meaning that Arsenal will be spending Christmas atop the Premier League.
It was the visitors that began the stronger, with Ederson producing two great saves in the first 10 minutes.
Manchester City could not deal with the aerial threat of Brentford, however, and a long ball was flicked on by Ben Mee, before Ivan Toney looped a header over the Brazilian to hand his side a shock lead.
What a stellar start for the Bees!!
Ivan Toney puts Brentford 1-0 up against Man City away from home!! 💫#EPL pic.twitter.com/MkN1KcDyw1
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 12, 2022
Guardiola’s side continued to probe, but despite several penalty appeals that were turned down by VAR, it was not until first-half stoppage time that they found a reply as a corner from Kevin De Bruyne was thrashed home by Phil Foden.
He absolutely thumped that!!
Phil Foden levels the score for Man City right on half-time with this absolute rocket of a strike! 🚀#EPL pic.twitter.com/QeYsztDg0s
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 12, 2022
City dominated the second half, with some sensational one-touch interplay between De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Ilkay Gundogan resulting in the German blazing over the bar.
But Brentford remained a threat on the counter-attack, with only a brilliant block from Aymeric Laporte preventing Ivan Toney from having a tap-in to restore their lead.
The result means that Manchester City stay second heading into the Christmas break, and could see them drop five points behind Arsenal should the Gunners beat Wolves later today.
Meanwhile, the Bees move above Crystal Palace into 10th ahead of the rest of the weekend’s action.
Here’s how we rated the players.
📰 Table Of Contents
Player ratings
Manchester City
GK: Ederson – 7
Made two great saves in the opening ten minutes to keep it goalless. Kept on his toes by the away side but did well when called upon.
RB: John Stones – 6
Continued to be solid in his inverted fullback position without really excelling going forwards.
CB: Aymeric Laporte – 6
Struggled with the aerial element of Brentford’s attack, and suffered a nasty blow. Recovered to make a fantastic block to prevent a certain goal.
CB: Manuel Akanji – 5
Given a tough game by Ivan Toney.
LB: Joao Cancelo – 5
Returning from suspension, the left back lacked his usual ability on the ball and was booked for a dive as he attempted to win a penalty.
DM: Rodri – 7
Metronomic and accurate as per, went close with one effort from range too.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 5
Was tidy but not penetrative in midfield.
CM: Kevin de Bruyne – 5
A rare off day for the Belgian, who struggled for any real accuracy with his normally adventurous passing. Was beaten for the Brentford winner too, though cleared off the line moments later.
RW: Bernardo Silva – 4
Looked largely wasted on the right flank and couldn’t get into the game.
ST: Erling Haaland – 5
Anonymous when he doesn’t score, and the striker was starved of any sort of service by an industrious Brentford side.
LW: Phil Foden – 7
Fired home with a wonderful strike and always looked the most likely to make something happen for the hosts.
Substitutes
Julian Alvarez – 5
Made no impact on the game.
Brentford
GK: David Raya – 7
Could do nothing about the equaliser but made some strong saves to keep the scores level.
RWB: Mads Roeslev – 7
Not as adventurous as Henry on the opposite flank, but kept Phil Foden largely quiet.
CB: Ben Mee – 8
Grabbed the assist for Brentford’s goal and marshalled the Brentford backline well.
CB: Ethan Pinnock – 8
Was commanding in defence and tracked the Manchester City runs well.
CB: Mathias Jorgensen – 8
Didn’t put a foot wrong all game.
LWB: Rico Henry – 8
Was a brilliant outlet and all of Brentford’s most threatening play went through the wing-back.
CM: Frank Onyeka – 6
Solid in midfield but was often played around by the Manchester City players.
CM: Matias Jensen – 7
A strong presence in the centre of the park.
CM: Vitaly Janelt – 5
Struggled to get close to the Manchester City midfielders and was taken off after an hour.
ST: Ivan Toney – 9
Clearly still frustrated by being dropped from the England squad, Toney was a threat all game, but will feel as though he could have had more than two goals.
ST: Bryan Mbuemo – 7
Worked hard and linked up well with Ivan Toney and the wingbacks.
Substitutes:
Christian Norgaard – 6
Came on in central midfield and added some steel to Thomas Frank’s side.
Yoanne Wissa – 7
Added energy in both boxes without any major standout moments.
Josh Da Silva – N/A
Only on for the final five minutes.
Fan reaction:
Man City (1.57) 1-2 (1.90) Brentford
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) November 12, 2022
This Bernardo RW experiment isn’t it for me anymore. He’s 10/10 technically, so he’ll never necessarily be “bad” there. But someone like him runs the game, and needs to be deeper to do that.
Barely gets the ball to make anything happen at RW. Shift him into midfield, please.
— Srinivas Sadhanand (@sriniwrites_) November 12, 2022
The technique on that Foden goal 😩😩😩 god what a footballer
— Joe Thomlinson (@joethomlinson) November 12, 2022
Should Ivan Toney have been selected by Gareth Southgate? 🤔#MCIBRE pic.twitter.com/Q7a6u32ncS
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) November 12, 2022
Expert reaction:
Joao Cancelo shown a yellow card for a rotten dive. Awful.
— Phil McNulty (@philmcnulty) November 12, 2022
Brentford are absolutely horrible to play against. I would say that last season, apart from Liverpool, they were probably the toughest team City played. Certainly the ugliest games. They don’t even give you an option at throw-ins. That Foden goal is a huge help
— Sam Lee (@SamLee) November 12, 2022
Zanka’s first half by numbers vs. Manchester City:
100% tackles won
29 touches
6 clearances
4 blocks
2 interceptions
2/2 ground duels wonMade some crucial defensive contributions. 👏 pic.twitter.com/tTkA9au8cF
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) November 12, 2022
Ivan Toney after missing out on England’s World Cup squad 🤫 pic.twitter.com/bcovq6Jv4t
— GOAL Africa (@GOALAfrica) November 12, 2022
WHAT HAVE I JUST WITNESSED.
Absolute scenes!
Toney with the last minute winner.
Get him on that plane now.
— Jay Harris (@jaydmharris) November 12, 2022
