Brentford’s Ivan Toney had the perfect non-vocal response to being left out of England’s squad for the World Cup by scoring a brilliant brace in his team’s 2-1 win over a shocked Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium as the champions temporarily lost ground in the Premier League title race.
The striker capitalised on a bright start by Brentford, breaking the tense deadlock in the 16th minute when Ben Mee’s header bounded back across the box for Toney to send his delightful header over Ederson and into the net.
City demand for a penalty for a handball was turned down before they equalised on the stroke of halftime with a Kevin De Bruyne corner finding Phil Foden who drilled home a superb half-volley for his eighth league goal of the season.
Despite City racking up goal-scoring chances in the second half, a fired-up Toney sealed his brace to round off a stoppage-time counter-attack and secure a stunning victory for Brentford.
City stayed second in the table on 32 points, two behind leaders Arsenal who play Wolverhampton Wanderers later on Saturday. Brentford are 10th on 19 points.