On Monday, Ivan Toney continued his winning streak by scoring his 15th Premier League goal of the year to help Brentford defeat Fulham 3-2.
After he was accused of 262 violations of the Football Association’s gambling guidelines dating back to 2017, Toney has not displayed any symptoms of being disturbed.
As he gets ready to present his case, the 26-year-old recently criticised the FA in an Instagram post for what he claims are breaches of confidence.
Toney has nevertheless maintained his attention on the field, and his penalty at the Community Stadium gave him eight goals in his previous ten outings.
Only Erling Haaland of Manchester City and Harry Kane of Tottenham have scored more goals in the league this season than Toney.
Brentford regained the lead thanks to Toney’s 15th goal after Antonio Solomon of Fulham had erased Ethan Pinnock’s first-half goal.
Carlos Vinicius’ late goal was no comfort for Fulham, as Mathias Jensen’s late goal extended Brentford’s league-leading streak of victories without defeat to 12 games.
Unbeaten in the league in 2023, Brentford is now ranked ninth and is only one point behind Fulham in seventh position in the race to qualify for European competition.
Toney has netted 27 of his 28 career extra points, with his single miss occurring in 2018 while competing for Peterborough.
Ivan is the best penalty taker in the world for several reasons, including his technique, which he practises, and his cool demeanour, according to Brentford manager Thomas Frank.
“He is a unique football player. His leadership style and ability to motivate his team are exceptional.
“His ability to score goals, his link-up play, and how he views his teammates in terms of combinations. He is a player who can do it all.
Brentford and Fulham are located in genteel west London neighbourhoods, thus their matchups will never be considered among the most exciting local rivalries in football.
The neighbours have never even interacted above the third division of English football prior to 2014.
But, both teams are in a golden age and have moved above the struggling Blues this season after spending decades in the shadow of their nearby rivals Chelsea.
When they set siege to the Fulham goal, Brentford rapidly appeared more likely to finish as west London’s top team this season.
Brentford blitz
Pinnock’s effort from the edge of the box took a vicious deflection from Tim Ream and fizzed past Bernd Leno, who was caught off guard by Brentford’s early onslaught.
Fulham equalised in the 39th minute despite being severely outplayed for the first 30 minutes.
As Andreas Pereira’s free kick hit the crossbar and ricocheted off it, Solomon quickly headed from close range into the open goal.
The Fulham winger, who joined last year on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, scored his fifth goal in his previous five outings.
As Brentford recovered the lead in the 53rd minute, that accomplishment was reduced to a mere footnote.
Fulham failed to clear Jensen’s long throw, and Christian Norgaard was tripped by Issa Diop’s raised boot, resulting in a penalty that Toney calmly and efficiently converted.
In the 85th minute, Jensen converted a close-range cross from Kevin Schade to give Brentford three points for their resourceful performance.
After David Raya mishandled Pereira’s shot, Vinicius flicked the ball home, but it was too late for Fulham to pull off an escape.
