Brentford 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion: Ivan Toney draws seventh straight blank in dull draw

Ivan Toney’s run without a Premier League goal extended to seven games as Brentford and Brighton played out a dull draw.

The 15th-placed Bees are winless in eight league games and six points above the relegation places.

Brighton produced few chances of their own despite dominating possession and stay ninth in the table.

While the Seagulls saw much more of the ball, the hosts created the better opportunities at Brentford Community Stadium.

Yoane Wissa flashed a shot wide of the near post following a slick team move down the left, before Toney turned his man in the area but could not get the power on his left-footed shot to trouble Verbruggen.

The biggest talking point came in first-half stoppage time, when the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) called on-pitch official Andy Madley to the monitor after Wissa appeared to pull down Brighton captain Lewis Dunk in the box.

In a rare occurrence, however, Madley stuck with his original call and gave no penalty – much to Dunk’s disbelief.

On review, it was decided Dunk had fouled Wissa first before being tugged down by the home forward, meaning a free-kick was given to Brentford instead.

The second half provided no breakthrough either, with Danny Welbeck denied by a fine last-gasp block from Kristoffer Ajer before the Brighton striker poked a shot narrowly wide.

A point still left Brentford with a chunky gap above the relegation zone following Luton’s defeat at Arsenal, while Brighton missed the chance to move up to seventh and into a European place.

Toney short on goals and confidence

While Brentford are continuing to put points between themselves and the bottom three, they are doing so slowly and unconvincingly and are now winless in five home league games.

A major factor in their poor form has been a lack of goals from Toney.

While he continues to play a key role in building their attack and forming a flowing partnership with Wissa, here the England international seemed uncharacteristically short of confidence in the opposition box.

Toney also continued to struggle after the break, blazing a free-kick well over from a promising position.

Brentford will hope their main man can rediscover his scoring touch before the end of the campaign – as will Toney himself, with a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad at Euro 2024 on the line.

A spark for the Bees comes in the return to fitness of Bryan Mbeumo, who came off the bench here. The Cameroon forward has not started a match since suffering an ankle injury in the fixture at Brighton in December.

Pedro return can’t spark Seagulls

Brighton also lacked a goal threat, despite the return from injury of top scorer Joao Pedro.

That the Brazilian has missed the last six games yet remains their leading marksman with eight league goals, is an indicator of the absent cutting edge that has kept the Seagulls on the periphery of European qualification.

Most of Brighton’s best attacking moments came through Pedro, who forced home keeper Mark Flekken into a sharp near post save late in the first half.

A draw does represent some improvement for Brighton, however, as they avoided losing five away matches in a row across all competitions for the first time since 2006.