Soccer Football - Premier League - Brentford v Southampton - Brentford Community Stadium, London, Britain - February 4, 2023 Brentford's Mathias Jensen scores their third goal REUTERS/Tony Obrien
LONDON (Reuters) - Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo got a goal and an assist in their 3-0 home victory over bottom side Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday to move up to seventh in the standings.
Brentford, who have won four of their last five league matches and are unbeaten since October, moved to 33 points from 21 games and are three points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League spot.
"A very good performance. I try to think back during the season but this is may be our most convincing first half of the season," Brentford manager Thomas Frank told the BBC.
"We had some good wins against Manchester United and Liverpool but this was more dominant on the ball and creating a lot of chances.
"It's quite incredible that we are nine games unbeaten, that is a fantastic achievement. I just said to the boys, 'Well done on a complete performance in the second half'."
Defender Ben Mee opened the scoring for Brentford with a bullet header into the top left corner in the 41st minute, converting a lovely lofted pass by Mbeumo.
"There's a real good buzz around the dressing room and at the club," Mee said.
"Fans can dream for Europe, we'll keep going and work hard for them. We'll keep going and get results."
Mbeumo then doubled the lead three minutes later when Yoane Wissa set him up with a brilliant cross into the box, which the Cameroon international finished with a low first-time shot.
Midfielder Mathias Jensen sealed the win for the home side in the 80th with a header inside the right post, giving Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu no chance.
Southampton remain bottom of the table with 15 points. They will host 15th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers next Saturday when Brentford travel to leaders Arsenal.
"We play Arsenal on Saturday and we are looking forward to that game. I think it's important that we have that confident but humble attitude where we are dreaming a bit," Frank added.
"We need to stay humble and do the work every single week. We are saying we want to stay as high as possible but the minimum criteria is always to stay in the league.
"But we want to end as high as possible, so let's see how high that is."
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
