THE42
TOTTENHAM’S DISAPPOINTING CAMPAIGN took another turn for the worse after Bryan Mbeumo’s second-half brace earned Brentford a fine 3-1 win at their London rivals.
Harry Kane’s early opener gave Spurs the perfect start in their quest to stay in the hunt for Europa League football, but the visitors turned the tables with an impressive display after the break.
Mbeumo grabbed a quickfire brace to help fill the void of Ivan Toney, who on Thursday received an eight-month ban from all football activities from the FA for betting breaches.
Yoane Wissa then sealed the victory late on for Thomas Frank’s side with Spurs suffering a 14th defeat of the Premier League season and leaving the pitch to boos after another match with more chants for chairman Daniel Levy to leave the club.
Tottenham’s loss at Aston Villa last weekend had added to the glum mood around club, but the sun was shining for this final home fixture of the season and Ryan Mason rung the changes.
Attackers Arnaut Danjuma and Dejan Kulusevski earned recalls while the fit-again Yves Bissouma made his first start since January with Spurs’ acting head coach reverting to the 4-2-3-1 formation he used in 2021.
Chairman Levy used his programme notes to acknowledge the season struggles but promised to bring “on-pitch success” after a chaotic campaign.
One of Levy’s many key decisions this summer – alongside hiring a new head coach and managing director of football – is to try and convince Kane to commit his long-term future to Spurs.
After eight minutes Tottenham’s vice-captain provided yet another reminder of his importance.
Oliver Skipp, another academy graduate, won a free-kick around 25-yards out and Kulusevski teed up Kane to curl over the wall and beyond David Raya for his 30th goal in all competitions.
It was the perfect start for the hosts and Son Heung-min was the next to go close but Raya denied him after Kane’s pass.
The strong opening period by Tottenham was not enough to prevent the first round of ‘Levy out’ chants from the South Stand with 23 minutes played to mark his number of years at the club.
A second goal for the hosts should have followed immediately after but Emerson Royal’s header was brilliantly cleared off the line by Rico Henry after good work by Kulusevski and Son.
Mathias Jensen side-footed over for Brentford minutes later but Spurs remained in the ascendancy and Danjuma headed wide before Ben Mee thwarted Son with a vital block.
Kulusevski, impressive in the number 10 role, ended the half with a firm near-post effort that Raya pushed over to ensure it stayed 1-0 at the break.
Bees boss Frank had seen enough and introduced Mikkel Damsgaard for the second half, which paid dividends straight away.
It was Damsgaard who fed the ball into Yoane Wissa and he passed into the path of Mbeumo, who cut inside from the right and curled into the bottom corner to level in the 50th minute.
