Brentford 2-2 Tottenham
by Layth Yousif
at the Brentford Community Stadium

EMERSON ROYAL earned a point for the visitors following a hectic first half containing all four goals during today’s intriguing London derby.

In front of 17,066 fans this afternoon, the Lilywhites embarked on life without Harry Kane, following the England captain’s move to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, with the club’s new boss Ange Postecoglu opting for Son Heung-Min as captain. While Micky van de Ven, who arrived last week from Wolfsburg, started along with fellow new boy James Maddison.

As expected, Thomas Frank left David Raya out of the Bees squad after interest from Arsenal, with Mark Flekken starting in goal after being signed from Freiburg this summer. Guglielmo Vicario started between the sticks for the visitors.

Underlining football humour, Bees fans immediately sang rude ditties about Spurs former captain Kane, who came on as a substitute for Bayern during their 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup on Saturday evening.

In a lively start, Tottenham went ahead on 11 minutes when Cristian Romero nodded home Maddison’s ball for 1-0, after VAR correctly ruled the 27-year-old former Atalanta attacker was onside.

However, in strange scenes, with the players still celebrating, boss Postecoglu promptly substituted Romero, who, despite receiving a knock early in the game, understandably, was not keen to leave the field of play. As the farce unfolded, Romero threw his shirt off and stormed down the tunnel.

More drama was to follow soon after, when Son was eventually adjudged to have felled Mathias Jensen in the box, leaving VAR to award a penalty via referee Robert Jones. Up stepped the lively Bryan Mbeumo, who sent keeper Vicario the wrong way for 1-1 on 26 minutes.

As the tempo ramped up further, indiscipline cost Spurs dearly, with Davinson Sanchez booked for shoving Wissa. Maddison was then handed a yellow for dissent, following on from Postecoglu’s assistant coach Ryan Mason being cautioned earlier. Unbowed, the Bees promptly broke upfield with Wissa firing past an increasingly beleaguered Vicario to make it 2-1.

That was before 11 minutes were added on at the end of the opening half, that saw Royal equalising for the visitors, with a low shot four minutes into extra time.

Into the second half Richarlison had a shot saved on 63 minutes, when Flekken beat away the Brazilian’s effort following a good through ball from Maddison, but as the clock ticked down, neither side could grab a winner as an absorbing clash ended level.