Manchester United took a giant step towards securing a place in the Champions League with a win at home to Brentford on April 27.
United started in third and victory moved them 11 points clear of sixth-placed Brighton with four games remaining. The top five finishers are guaranteed to play in Europe’s top-tier competition in 2026/27.
Brentford did not prove easy opponents. Keith Andrews has done a fantastic job in his first season as a head coach and the Bees remain in contention for Europa League qualification.
“We want to approach this game in a very similar way to how we approach every game,” said Andrews beforehand.
“We’re very aware of [United’s] strengths… they’ve got some magnificent players who we need to try to keep quiet.
“It’s an amazing game for us. I said this to the players: we’ve got three brilliant away games – United, City [on May 9] and Liverpool [on May 24] – and two London derbies at home against West Ham [on May 2] and Crystal Palace [date TBC].
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position but we’re not content with where we are and we want to keep pushing.”
Manchester United v Brentford stats
- This was Manchester United‘s sixth Premier League game played on a Monday this season, which is their most on the day during a single campaign since 1995/96 (also 6), last playing more in 1992/93 (7)
- Since losing 1-0 at home to Everton in November, United have scored in 22 consecutive Premier League matches – their longest scoring run since Alex Ferguson retired, last scoring in that many in a row between November 2012 and April 2013 (23)
- They avoided suffering consecutive home league defeats for the first time since May 2025
- Bruno has 19 Premier League assists this season for United, with only three players ever creating more goals in a single season: Henry in 2002/03 for Arsenal (20), De Bruyne in 2019/20 for Manchester City (20) and Mesut Ozil in 2015/16 for Arsenal (19)
- Brentford failed to complete the league double over Manchester United for the second time, previously doing so during the 1936/37 top-flight campaign, when the Red Devils were relegated
- The Bees (5) had been on the longest run of draws in the division since Manchester City in October/November 2009 (7)
- Before falling behind to United, Brentford hadn’t trailed for a single minute in the Premier League across six matches, failing to go seven in a row without falling behind between November and February of the 2022/23 season
- Caoimhin Kelleher has nine Premier League clean sheets for Brentford this season. The last Republic of Ireland goalkeeper to reach double figures for clean sheets in a season was Shay Given in 2009/10 for Man City (10)
- Of the teams not to have already been relegated from this season’s Premier League, only Newcastle and Fulham have each lost as many away games in the 2025/26 division as Brentford (9)
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