Hwang double helps Wolves to rare away success at Brentford

Following the dismissal of Ben Mee in the loss to Aston Villa 10 days ago, Brentford boss Thomas Frank fielded Nathan Collins in a central-defensive pairing with Ethan Pinnock, whilst further up the pitch Neal Maupay spearheaded the attack alongside Congo international Yoane Wissa.

Pleased with his side's Christmas Eve showing against Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea, Gary O'Neil's only alteration from Sunday afternoon was enforced, with Uruguayan Santiago Bueno replacing veteran Craig Dawson, who suffered a nasty cut to his knee in the second half at Molineux last time out.

The opening exchanges at the Gtech saw both the Bees and the Wolves enjoying periods of momentum, however it always felt as if the visitors' attack posed a greater threat, and moments after Vitaly Janelt nearly bundled the ball into his own net following a Hwang cross, the Black Country outfit hit the front.

Pablo Sarabia picked up the ball on the left after the hosts cleared a corner to the flanks, and the Spaniard provided a wicked delivery into the path of Lemina, who ghosted into the box unmarked and headed past Mark Flekken in the Brentford net - the midfielder has now netted in back-to-back matches.

There were different trains of thought debating how Frank's side would perform after a rare 10-day break in the middle of the festive period, but it was clear in the first half that the Bees were well off the Premier League pace, finding themselves two goals down just 12 seconds after Maupay had taken the restart.

Former Wolves man Collins received the ball from kick-off and carelessly sold Flekken short with a pass, allowing the opportunistic Hwang to knick past the goalkeeper and walk the ball into an empty net.

Representative of the frenetic nature of the first period, Brentford were able to reduce the deficit to one goal just two minutes later when the ball was headed to former Everton striker Maupay, who lifted a ball into the path of Wissa in the box, and the 27-year-old held off the attentions of Bueno to fire a blast a shot past Jose Sa.

More to follow.