Analysis: Mbeumo hits 50 goal involvements in firing Brentford attack | OneFootball

With a match-winning brace in Brentford’s 4-3 defeat of Ipswich Town at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, Bryan Mbeumo chalked up 50 direct goal involvements as a Premier League player.

The Cameroon international has been simply electric this season and a key cog in Brentford’s impressive start to the 2024/25 campaign, with the Bees now ninth in the top flight.

After passing Ivan Toney as Brentford’s most productive Premier League performer a couple of weeks ago, Mbeumo has motored on to his half-century of goal involvements - and he joins a select band of players to achieve the feat since 2021/22.

In fact, only 10 other players have been involved in more top-flight goals than Mbeumo since the Bees’ promotion from the Championship back in 2021 - and, as you would expect, those above him on the list are serious heavy hitters: Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland, Heung-min Son, Bukayo Saka, Ollie Watkins, Kevin De Bruyne, Jarrod Bowen, Phil Foden, James Maddison, Harry Kane - and, now, Mbeumo, who is level with Martin Ødegaard and Bruno Fernandes.

Although the 25-year-old may well be viewed as the main man for the Bees, the form of fellow forward Keane Lewis-Potter is also worth touching upon, as the winger turned in arguably his best performance yet in a Brentford shirt at the weekend.

The former Hull City man has started the Bees' last six Premier League games, and he has certainly begun to find his feet in the top flight and in west London.

Lewis-Potter’s influence is growing, and the manner in which he drove off the left flank to cut open Ipswich’s defence prior to Yoane Wissa’s opening goal spoke volumes regarding his quality and confidence.

After the break, the winger was hauled down for the penalty that Mbeumo converted for his first of the afternoon, and Lewis-Potter was a bright spark all afternoon during a ding-dong contest that left him feeling “on top of the world”.

Only the aforementioned Mbeumo, as well as Mikkel Damsgaard, have completed more dribbles per game for Brentford than Lewis-Potter so far this season - and three successful dribbles, two shots, a key pass and a 100 per cent pass completion percentage all spoke to a very good afternoon’s work for the former England Under-21 international.

It would be negligent not to also mention the excellence of Wissa when discussing the Brentford attack, as the reliable forward notched again at the weekend to take his tally to four goals for the season, meaning he now averages a goal every 102 minutes this term.

The Bees were dealing with plenty of injuries, suspensions and uncertainty last year - but they now look in good shape to try and consolidate themselves in the top half.

Their four away games so far this season have seen them go to Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Manchester United; despite losing all four, Brentford have been more than competitive against those sides - and even took the lead in the latter three games.

At home, however, it has been a different matter with Thomas Frank’s side collecting 13 points from a possible 15, sitting top-of-the-table for home form above Manchester City. The Bees have also netted more goals (15) on their own patch than any other team in the division.

Performances on the road coupled with results at home bode well for the west Londoners.