Nottingham Forest recorded a surprise 2-0 victory at Brentford on Sunday, with Brazilian striker Igor Jesus (£5.8m) overshadowing his compatriot Igor Thiago (£7.2m).
Here are our Scout Notes from the Gtech Community Stadium.
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THIAGO BLANK
Only three teams have earned more points at home than Brentford in 2025/26.
But Keith Andrews’ team, who saw a six-match unbeaten streak in the Premier League come to an end at Stamford Bridge last week, failed to capitalise on their first-half dominance on Sunday, suffering their first defeat at the Gtech Community Stadium since Gameweek 7.
In a disappointing attacking display, they squandered three Opta-defined ‘big chances’, failing to find the net for the second consecutive match.
Falling well below their usual high standards in west London, they also failed to register a single shot on target after the break.
Captained by over 390,000 managers, Thiago had opportunities but missed one of those previously mentioned big chances when he shot wide from Kevin Schade’s (£7.2m) cross.
A subsequent attempt was stabbed wide from a tight angle, but apart from that, he frequently found himself isolated in the final-third, with the impressive Nikola Milenkovic (£5.1m) and Murillo (£5.2m) firmly on top.
“We didn’t feed him enough and he’s closely marked now, everyone knows about him and how he plays, so we need to find new ways to provide service for him.” – Keith Andrews on Igor Thiago
Some of Brentford’s other best chances arose from Michael Kayode’s (£4.5m) throw-ins, with substitute Sepp van den Berg (£4.5m) heading just past the near post on the stroke of half-time.
AJER + DAMSGAARD INJURIES
Brentford were forced into a pair of early changes on Sunday, with Kristoffer Ajer (£4.4m) and Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.7m) both suffering injuries.
“Kristoffer is an ankle injury, and Dams is a knee injury. We’ll see over the next day or two once we’ve calmed things down. They’ll have scans and hopefully we can get some positive news on that front.” – Keith Andrews on Kristoffer Ajer and Mikkel Damsgaard
Before his withdrawal, Damsgaard impressed.
“Dams was playing well in the game. He was looking back to his brilliant best, playing between the lines and looking to create. It’s the best part of his game, when he’s on that type of form, finding areas where he can be effective.” – Keith Andrews on Mikkel Damsgaard
Van den Berg and Dango Ouattara (£5.8m) were the two to replace them.
The former has had to be patient recently, with Ajer forming a solid partnership with Nathan Collins (£5.0m) at the back. Ajer’s injury, however, may provide van den Berg with an opportunity to reclaim his spot.
As for Ouattara, he racked up three shots (see image below), three chances created and 1.35 expected goal involvement (xGI) in just an hour of football, the most of any player in Gameweek 23 so far.
Above: Dango Ouattara’s goal attempts (shots on target in green) in Gameweek 23
ANOTHER FOREST CLEAN SHEET
Forest recorded a hard-fought win here and have now kept back-to-back clean sheets, having held Arsenal to a goalless draw last week.
Given Brentford’s home form, plus the fact that Forest played in Portugal on Thursday, they deserve real credit.
It’s now five clean sheets in 15 Premier League matches under Sean Dyche, a period which has seen them concede only 26 big chances, the third-fewest of any team.
Jesus’ superb volley put Forest in front on Sunday, before substitute Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.2m) added a second.
Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.3m) supplied the assist for the latter’s strike and has now produced an attacking return in each of his last three away matches.
The goals from Jesus and Awoniyi arrive after Forest added another centre-forward, Lorenzo Lucca, to their squad on Friday.
“It’s the thing with football, you bring a striker in and then your strikers score. Sometimes that’s just the way it is. That competitive element is almost subliminal – that’s why managers do it across the board. When you bring in the freshness of different players, it often kicks others into life. I don’t think they needed that, I must say.” – Sean Dyche
Elsewhere, five Forest players banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points: Milenkovic, Murillo, Neco Williams (£4.7m), Ibrahim Sangare (£4.9m) and Elliot Anderson (£5.3m).
Anderson has now secured DefCon in seven successive matches.
Douglas Luiz (£4.9m), meanwhile, missed out due to illness.
