Leeds were everyone’s second team last season but Brentford are the side everyone’s quietly rooting for this term.
The Bees have been a breath of fresh air, so far, in their debut Premier League season having taken the scalp of Arsenal in the opening weekend, while also claiming creditable draws at Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.
But manager Thomas Frank labelled their victory at Wolves as the best performance of the season so far, winning 2-0 despite going down to ten men.
At the heart of Brentford’s success was Ivan Toney – the forward caused all sorts of problems for Conor Coady and the Wolves defenders.
The striker scored the opener – a delightfully composed penalty – before providing an assist for Bryan Mbuemo.
Toney’s form this season has earned him all sorts of praise, with Martin Keown likening him to Chelsea hotshot Romelu Lukaku.
talkSPORT’s David Connolly said: “You look at his physical attributes, he’s got Premier League physicality, speed and power. He’s got the intelligence, his movement down the channels against Wolves and Villa. He can do a little bit of everything.”
Keown added: ” He’s causing mayhem in the Premier League and he’s only been in it five minutes!
“He’s their Lukaku at Brentford and if they can continue to progress as they are then they’re here to stay.”
Toney is now on two Premier League goals for the season and he’s certainly got the self-belief he can mix it with the likes of Lukaku.
Asked what he’s capable of by Jim White after the win at Wolves, Toney said: “Capable of getting a Golden Boot hopefully!
“I’m doing the best I can, trying to improve every day and with the players around me I believe I can do that. You’ve just got to take it every game as it comes.
“We fear nobody and whoever we play we’re excited.”
It’s good Toney and Brentford don’t fear anyone because their next match is one where there’s no room for nerves as they take on Liverpool on Saturday evening, live on talkSPORT.
But this is a challenge Toney won’t shy away from, saying before the season started he’s raring to go against Reds centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
On who he’s looking forward to coming up against the most, he told talkSPORT last month: “I’d say Virgil van Dijk.
“There’s all this talk of him getting the best of the majority of strikers so I’d like to be one of few to get the better of him! It’ll be a tough one but I’m excited.”
Liverpool are wary of Toney’s threat, with Jurgen Klopp issuing praise to the Bees for their recruitment and the way they’ve developed him since.
Klopp said: “Giving players like Ivan the trust and faith and you can see what you get out of the player.
“He was on the market and I’m not sure how many Championship nearly Premier League teams were going for him but they sold two of the Championship’s best strikers [Neal Maupay and Ollie Watkins] for sure, who are now two of the best strikers in the Premier League.
“It’s not about the problems you have it’s about the solutions and they had a brilliant solution.”
Can Liverpool find the solution that Premier League sides have so far struggled to achieve in containing Toney?
Listen to full commentary of Brentford vs Liverpool live on talkSPORT, kick-off 5:30pm.
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