Analysis: Wissa's emergence as a genuine Premier League goalscorer | OneFootball

The curtain fell on a challenging third season in the Premier League for Brentford with a 4-2 defeat to Newcastle United on Sunday, leaving boss Thomas Frank to reflect on an injury-littered campaign that saw the Bees finish 16th in the top flight.

Frank's side were left with a mountain to climb at the interval after Eddie Howe's visitors raced into a 3-0 lead and, although strikes from Vitaly Janelt and Yoane Wissa gave the hosts a glimmer of hope, a 77th-minute strike from Bruno Guimarães sealed the points for the Magpies.

Ahead of the contest, there were plenty of parallels to be drawn between the two sides' Premier League campaigns.

Both Brentford and Newcastle have been plagued by injury problems throughout the 2023/24 season, and the two teams have also allied plenty of firepower in attack with an inability to keep goals out at the other end.

A six-goal thriller was perhaps an unsurprising scoreline, all things considered, and, afterwards, Bees boss Frank stated "the theme of the season is that we've given too many soft goals away".

However, in total, Brentford found the net in all but eight of their 38 Premier League games this term - Arsenal, Brighton and Fulham were the only teams to prevent the Bees scoring at home in the top flight - and Yoane Wissa's emergence as a genuine Premier League goalscorer has played a big part in that.

A dozen top-flight strikes in 34 games - all of them from open play - ensured that Wissa finished the season as Brentford's top scorer; the DR Congo forward's fantastic curling finish into the bottom corner showcased the verve and quality he has displayed throughout the season.

Zoom in on Wissa's goalscoring numbers and the sheer variety of the threat he poses becomes increasingly apparent: four of his goals notched from inside the six-yard box, five inside the penalty area and three from outside the 18-yard box.

Wissa laid on his third assist of the season for the Bees' opener, and it was fitting that the club's Players' Player of the Season Vitaly Janelt got his name on the scoresheet.

The only Brentford player to feature in every top flight game this season, Janelt has very much been the glue holding the Bees' midfield together, and his clinical left-footed finish past Nick Pope earned him a deserved first, and only, goal of the campaign.

Ranking second for assists (62) and key passes (37), and fourth for interceptions (36) and passes completed (1043), the German midfielder was described last month as Brentford's "go-to guy in so many ways" by his manager, and he has certainly enjoyed an impressive campaign.

Before we wrap up our final post-match summary of the season, we need to mention the important contribution of Neal Maupay during his loan cameo from Everton.

The fan favourite finished the campaign having plundered six goals in 29 games with a goals-per-minute average comparable to Wissa (209 minutes per goal) and Bryan Mbeumo (217 minutes per goal), and he ended the campaign with eight goals and four assists across all competitions.

In total, Maupay has hit 49 goals in 126 games for Brentford and the Frenchman rightly noted after the Newcastle game that he's enjoyed "a hell of a journey" across his two spells with the Bees.

This season has been an adventure for Brentford; their third campaign in the Premier League has featured more than its fair share of setbacks.

As Frank noted in his post-match comments on Sunday, survival in the top flight constitutes success considering the obstacles they have faced.