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Beesotted contributors The Gowler and Paul Kowalczyk (@BeesBreakdown) give us the tactical and statistical lowdown of Brentford’s draw against Brighton

Thomas Frank stuck with an unchanged starting XI that faced Manchester United at the weekend. Zanka, Ajer, and Collins started on the backline, while Roerslev and Lewis-Potter were the fullbacks. Yarmolyuk, Janelt, and Jensen across midfield with Toney and Wissa up top. Sergio Reguilon available for this match after suspension, but he started on the bench, alongside Mbeumo also fit to start.

De Zerbi chose his typical 4-2-3-1 with Igor, Dunk, van Hecke, and Veltman at the back. Gross and Baleba in a double pivot, with Lallana ahead of them. Adingra and Buonanotte were the wide players while Pedro the lone target man. Brighton were missing Gilmour, Ferguson, Hinselwood, Milner, Mitoma, and March all due to injury, rivaling Brentford’s injury concerns this season.

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Summary

Brentford ended with 0.57 xG to Brighton’s 1.14 xG and the seagulls held 67% but nothing to show for it. They struggled to penetrate Brentford’s low block and while they had 286 touches in the final third, they only had 26 touches in the penalty area. They ended with 24 shots, but 11 of these were ambitious out of the box long range efforts, with Brighton ending with their longest average shot distance of the season.

Brentford did create some chances of their own from their high press and man marking, but the Bees were missing the final pass or clinical finish. Normally De Zerbi wants to build out of the back with short passes, but Brentford’s high press routinely forced them to launch it long to bypass the press.

Brentford created some opportunities from winning back possession after disrupting Brighton’s buildup, but the Bees also showed a glimmer of possession-based football of their own, one instance ending with a good chance for Wissa that he couldn’t put on target.