Brentford make light work of Bournemouth to move into eighth

Ivan Toney's first-half penalty got the ball rolling for the Bees after Marcos Senesi brought down Brentford's top scorer in the area.

A swift counter-attacking move which was finished off by Mathias Jensen in the latter stages was enough to see off the Cherries in the capital.

Thomas Frank's side have now moved above Liverpool and are rivalling Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion for potential European qualification.

Bournemouth now find themselves just one place and one point above the relegation zone as they reach the midway point of their season.

Defeat in the FA Cup last week has not affected Brentford's superb league form which has seen them surge up the standings.

Their last five league games have yielded a very impressive 11 points, and when you consider they have faced Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in that time, it is even more noteworthy.

In a relatively low-key affair, the big turning point came just over five minutes before half-time, when a looped ball in behind Bournemouth's defence led to Senesi grappling onto Toney before hurling him down.

Referee Jarred Gillett wasted no time in pointing to the spot, and penalty expert Toney calmly dispatched the spot kick to notch his 13th Premier League goal of the season.

That was Toney's ninth Premier League penalty and he still has a 100% record - only Yaya Toure can better that.

Despite a flurry of pressure from the visitors midway through the second half, they never really threatened David Raya's goal and Brentford always looked in relative control.

Substitute Siriki Dembele looked mot likely to make something happen for Gary O'Neil's men, and he forced Raya into a comfortable save with 20 minutes to play, but that is as much as Bournemouth could muster.

The final nail in the coffin came just a few minutes later when Josh Dasilva found space on the left-hand side and flashed a ball across the edge of the area to pick out the on-rushing Jensen, who gave Neto no chance in the Bournemouth goal.

It was a deserved second goal for the hosts and the final stages were managed competently and routinely, as they condemned Bournemouth to a tenth defeat in 12 games in all competitions.

Things look a little more perilous now for the Cherries after there were wins for Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton elsewhere in the league earlier today.

It is Forest next up for them as well next weekend at the Vitality Stadium in a must-not-lose game for O'Neil.

Brentford travel to Leeds United in their next outing, another side near the bottom struggling for points, so Frank and his side will see it as another opportunity to strengthen their push for Europe.