Brentford 1, Manchester City 0
Ethan Pinnock’s late goal ended Manchester City’s 25 game unbeaten run as Brentford completed the double over the Champions.
Embed from Getty ImagesPinnock was already celebrating a new four-year deal with Brentford but victory wasn’t enough to secure European football for the Bees as results at Aston Villa and Tottenham didn’t go their way.
“Congratulations to Brentford. They deserved it.” admitted Pep Guardiola who said that his players would get a couple of days off as they tried to recover injured players – some of whom did not travel to London.
“We have four or five players with niggles, the ones who didn’t play here were really exhausted. I don’t know when they will be back.
“Ruben Dias and Jack Grealish haven’t trained for ten days, Kevin [De Bruyne] felt the same problem at Brighton.
“I think they will be ready [for Saturday].
“The guys who played today really deserved it. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford to give Kyle Walker a rest.”
Pep Guardiola shuffled his pack again with just 6 days to go until the FA Cup final – seven changes in all – and eventually gave Shea Charles his City debut as a number of senior players were rested ahead of the FA Cup and Champions League finals.
Ederson, Julian Alvarez, Cole Palmer, Kalvin Phillips, Nathan Ake, Aymeric Laporte, and Sergio Gomez came into the side while Stefan Ortega, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, and John Stones stepped down.
David Raya’s save denied Cole Palmer a Premier League goal as City threatened to break the deadlock early on but the more direct Brentford continued .
Yoane Wissa hit the woodwork while Brentford had a penalty claim against Rico Lewis turned down.
Ethan Pinnock eventually scored the winner late on to complete the double after Bryan Mbuemo unselfishly set up his team mate with a cushioned header after a cross from the right by Kevin Schade.
Cole Palmer saw shots twice blocked as City failed to grab an equaliser as their 25 game unbeaten run came to an end at Brentford who completed the double over City.