Brentford promoted to the Premier League after comfortable victory

Brentford heading to the big leagues

Brentford have been promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history after a 2-0 victory over Swansea in the Championship Play-off final.

“The party has just begun!” 🥳

Brentford lift the Championship play-off trophy after securing promotion to the Premier League! 🏆🐝 pic.twitter.com/QUFAgKqNnl

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 29, 2021

The Story of the Game

Despite the build-up to the fixture, it was in fact a straightforward win for the bees, who flew into an early lead through a tenth-minute penalty from top-scorer Ivan Toney. Swansea appeared somewhat overawed by the occasion, despite being roared on by a vociferous group of returning fans, and found themselves cut open again just ten minutes later.

As they threw men forwards looking for an instant response, Swansea were left exposed defensively as a clearance found Bryan Mbuemo, who advanced into the area before some nice work from Mads Roeslev ended with midfielder Emiliano Marcondes, who fired it into the corner.

A red card midway through the second half for Swansea midfielder Jay Fulton effectively killed the game as a contest, with the Bees holding on to a memorable and profitable victory that will see them playing Premier League football next season.

Fulton can have few complaints about his sending off, accidentally treading on the back of Jensen’s achilles before tripping over the defender. Even as he raised his hands in apology, Chris Kavanagh was reaching for his pocket and ultimately was quick to dismiss the Englishman for foul play.

Disaster for Swansea! 🤯

Two goals down and now a man down as Jay Fulton is given a straight red for this challenge! 🟥pic.twitter.com/SSV1ljoZCp

— Sky Sports (@SkySports) May 29, 2021

Swans boss Steve Cooper had this to say on the decision:

“There’s no way Jay would have done that intentionally because he is too sensible a player. The red card came out so quickly.

“We didn’t help ourselves today but we didn’t get any help from the officials, that’s for sure.”

Second time lucky for Brentford:

Brentford fans were surely braced for a second consecutive defeat in the Play-off final, having lost to 2-1 to Fulham in last season’s edition.

However, the Bees made the best possible start to allay these fears, and quickly established a 2-0 lead that they never looked in danger of relinquishing.

The knock-on effect is massive for the London club- Ivan Toney, previously linked with a move away, is now much more likely to stay. Equally, a release clause in goalkeeper David Raya’s contract has become null and void as a result of their promotion.

Both of these things put Brentford in a strong position for next season’s campaign in the top flight, and with some savvy recruitment, they could be looking at a midtable finish.

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