Brentford extended their winless run to nine games as they toiled to a 0-0 draw with Brighton at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Both team struggled to carve out a clear-cut chance across 90 minutes as the Bees kept their first clean sheet in eight fixtures but could not condemn Brighton to a fifth consecutive away loss in all competitions.
The result leaves Brentford in 15th, six points above the relegation zone.
Unlike their previous home game, where they recorded 31 shots and 85 touches in Manchester United’s box, the most of any Premier League team in a game this season, Brentford were unable to consistently challenge Brighton’s backline.
Both teams cancelled each other out with neither side committing too many men forward as the game dragged to its goalless conclusion
Brighton posted record profits of £122.8m in the 2022-23 financial year on Tuesday and Tony Bloom joined 1657 Seagulls fans in the away end, hoping to follow up the announcement with some celebratory news on the pitch.
Despite a flat first half, both Brentford strikers could have found their names on the scoresheet early on.
The first chance fell to Yoane Wissa just before the ten-minute mark. The Congolese striker lost Lewis Dunk with a clever near-post run but was unable to steer a Keane Lewis-Potter cross on target from close range.
The lively Wissa then threaded a through ball to Ivan Toney. The England forward has bagged three in his past two top-flight games against Roberto De Zerbi’s side, but was unable to add to challenge Bart Verbruggen. Having smartly turned Jan Paul van Hecke he could only roll the ball into the goalkeeper’s hands and his goalless run continued.
It took the visitors thirty minutes before Joao Pedro, returning to the starting line-up after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the last six league games, mustered Brighton’s first shot on goal.
Andy Madley was sent to the VAR monitor for a potential penalty in the final minute of the first half following Wissa’s tug on Dunk. However, the referee adjudged the Brighton defender to have made first contact and blew the half-time whistle.
The second half followed the same pattern to the first, with Danny Welbeck’s 93rd-minute shot off-target was the most notable opportunity of a fairly dire 45 minutes.
Brentford travel to Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa on Saturday, while Brighton host high-flying Arsenal.
