Ivan Toney scored a stoppage-time winner to help Brentford produce one of the shock football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. The Brentford captain stunned the defending champions and left Arsenal in first place in the league at Christmas after being left out of Gareth Southgate’s 26-man England team for Qatar. Toney had rightfully headed in the opening goal in the 16th minute, but Foden equalized for the home team in first-half injury time. A combination of poor finishing, wasteful passing, and tenacious Brentford defending frustrated City, who missed the opportunity to move to the top of the Premier League, until Toney capped a standout performance by sensationally tapping in a winner in the 97th minute.
Prior to Toney’s goal, Brentford ought to have taken the lead. In just the fourth minute, Ederson stopped Frank Onyeka from scoring as he broke through, and he subsequently had to block Toney’s close-range attempt. Toney outjumped Aymeric Laporte to flick the ball over the goalkeeper after Ben Mee headed in a free-kick, but he was powerless to stop the goal. Rico Henry was found to have handled the ball just outside the penalty area, and the VAR later overturned a second ruling that Kevin De Bruyne
After the score, City dominated the first few minutes of the second half, but Erling Haaland, who started after returning from injury, struggled to get into the game and Ilkay Gundogan squandered a great opportunity. It was therefore left to Brentford’s talisman to command attention. When Josh Dasilva played a flawless pass across the six-yard box at the end of a breakaway, Toney was never going to miss from close range. The goal was awarded for a prolonged injury stoppage to Laporte during the second half. Even in the waning seconds, a goal-line clearing prevented Toney from scoring a hat-trick.
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