Three targets down after simply 34 minutes of Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa at Villa Park, Brentford rallied after the break, however Bees head coach Thomas Frank admitted afterwards “you could possibly see the distinction between the 2 groups”.The west Londoners will little doubt look to rapidly study classes and transfer on from the loss by the hands of Unai Emery’s Champions League members, however one of many clear positives Frank and his backroom workers can take from the sport was one other spectacular show from Danish midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard.
After an injury-plagued begin to his profession in west London, the 24-year-old has discovered type and health this season and the Dane once more featured on the prime finish of a raft of statistics on Wednesday evening.
Damsgaard has been one of many Premier League’s most incisive passers this season, and the standard of his distribution was once more on present within the Midlands with Nathan Collins (46) the one participant from both aspect to finish extra correct passes than the midfielder (43), who took extra touches (75) than any participant on present at Villa Park.
The previous Sampdoria man has allied high quality on the ball with a powerful work-rate out of possession and final evening Damsgaard gained a whopping eight tackles, twice as many as another participant on the pitch, and 12 duels in complete.
Bryan Mbeumo and Damsgaard topped the important thing cross stat class amongst Brentford gamers with two apiece, and the Dane’s total contribution was spectacular regardless of the Bees falling to a defeat.
From a Brentford perspective, the largest spotlight of the sport was Damsgaard’s 54th-minute aim. Selecting up a half-cleared Mbeumo cross on the nook of the six-yard field, the midfielder nonetheless had work to do, however a stunning feint purchased him a yard and a crashing shot flew previous Villa’s two-time Goalkeeper of the Yr Emiliano Martínez.
Now with three targets and 5 assists to his identify in 2024/25, Damsgaard is out on his personal as Brentford’s third-most productive participant within the Premier League this season behind solely Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa (8 targets and an help every), and the Denmark worldwide has been concerned in over 1 / 4 (26 per cent) of the Bees’ top-flight targets this time period.
Considered one of seven Brentford gamers to characteristic in all 14 of the membership’s league fixtures thus far this season, Damsgaard’s emergence as a key man has been thrilling to observe and the Bees will hope he can take his type into this weekend’s conflict towards a Newcastle aspect that held leaders Liverpool to a 3-3 draw at St James’ Park on Wednesday.