Brentford 1-1 Sunderland: an 82nd-minute penalty levels it

Brentford led at the Gtech with thirty-three minutes left and finished with a point. Vitaly Janelt scored on fifty-seven minutes; Enzo Le Fée converted a penalty on eighty-two after Keane Lewis-Potter fouled Wilson Isidor in the area two minutes earlier.

It is the second consecutive week Brentford have taken the lead in a match and drawn it. It is also, more surprisingly, the second consecutive week Sunderland have been the better side by shot count and got something out of it.

The goals

Janelt opened the scoring twelve minutes into the second half, left-footed from the centre of the box into the top left corner. It was a clean finish in a match that had not produced many clean anything: nineteen fouls from the home side, nine from the visitors, and a first half without a goal.

The penalty came from a Lewis-Potter challenge on Isidor in the box on eighty minutes. Le Fée took it two minutes later and finished right-footed into the bottom right corner.

Brentford’s shot volume has collapsed

A week ago at Elland Road, Brentford took twenty-two shots and drew 1-1. The obvious diagnosis then was that the finishing would correct itself and the volume would carry them. On Saturday the volume went instead.

They managed twelve shots and two on target across ninety minutes, at home, with 49% of the possession. Sunderland had fourteen shots and five on target with 51%. That is a considerable swing from the week before and it did not come against a side that dominated them: this was an even match that Brentford led and could not close.

Two on target at home is the same figure Leeds managed against Brentford last weekend, and it drew the same result. Whatever Brentford’s underlying numbers were saying seven days ago, they said something quieter here.

Sunderland keep finding a way

Sunderland have now taken four points from three matches with three goals scored. They lost 2-1 at Ipswich, beat Fulham 1-0 with 41.6% of the ball and eleven shots against them going unconverted, and have now drawn away at a side sitting fifth.

The through-line is that they are not being outplayed. Against Fulham they had less of the ball and won; here they had marginally more and outshot the home side. For a promoted club three matches into a season, a return of one win, one draw and one narrow defeat is a genuinely solid start, and their goal difference of exactly zero reflects a team that has not been embarrassed once.

Isidor has now been involved in the decisive moment in both of the matches Sunderland have taken points from: the winner against Fulham and the penalty he won here.

Two leads, two points

Brentford have now scored first in two consecutive matches and drawn both. Kevin Schade put them ahead on forty-one minutes at Elland Road and Leeds equalised on seventy-nine; Janelt put them ahead on fifty-seven here and Sunderland equalised on eighty-two.

In both cases the equaliser arrived inside the last fifteen minutes, and in both cases Brentford had been in front for roughly half an hour without extending the lead. That is four points dropped from winning positions in eight days, and it is the single clearest thing to say about their season so far.

Set against that, they are unbeaten. Five points from three matches with a goal difference of plus three is a start most of the division would take, and their opening-day 3-0 against Tottenham has aged into one of the better results of the round given where Spurs now sit, still without a goal three matches into the season.

The table after it

Brentford are fifth with five points, level with Liverpool, Newcastle, Everton and Leeds and ahead of them on goal difference. Sunderland are twelfth with four, level with Brighton and Manchester United.

That is eight clubs separated by one point from fifth to twelfth after three rounds, which is the sort of compression that makes early-season tables almost meaningless as a guide and very stressful as a weekly experience.

What is not meaningless is the pattern each side is building. Brentford have led in two consecutive matches and taken two points from them; a third would start to look like something structural rather than a run of luck. Sunderland have now taken points in two of three and have not conceded more than twice in any match.

Nine points separate fifth from first. That is a lot for three matches, and it is entirely the product of Manchester City and Arsenal both winning all three while everybody below them has been drawing with each other.

The Premier League simulator on this site runs the remaining thirty-five rounds from exactly this table, with the real fixture list, if you want to see how a start like Brentford’s usually resolves.