{"id":541366,"date":"2026-03-17T02:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/541366\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T02:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:07:08","slug":"brentfords-european-hopes-take-a-hit-as-arokodare-caps-wolves-comeback-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/541366\/","title":{"rendered":"Brentford\u2019s European hopes take a hit as Arokodare caps Wolves\u2019 comeback | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Igor Thiago, celebrating his first call-up to the Brazil squad, scored his fourth goal in four games, the second of their first-half stroll, Brentford<\/a> were cruising to the shoulders of Chelsea and Liverpool. By full-time, the quest to reach European football for the first time in club history had received a severe jolt. And it could have been worse.<\/p>\n

Wolves have gone 330 days without an away win, to remain the last of the 92 league clubs to not break that duck, but showed continued signs of life, of pride within impending doom. After Tolu Arokodare\u2019s goal levelled the scores at 2-2, Wolves were much the likelier victors. The same substitute soon after headed against the crossbar. Though relegation remains a near certainty, a refusal to accept their fate, having nothing to lose makes Wolves a danger to any opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a really difficult situation, though it\u2019s a hell of a lot better than giving up,\u201d said Rob Edwards, the Wolves manager. \u201cIt\u2019s not just falling apart, the supporters can see the lads are giving a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defiance was on display from both clubs. The Gtech video screen, before kick-off, played clips of Micah Richards\u2019s and Alan Shearer\u2019s ill-starred pre-season podcast predictions for Brentford and Keith Andrews aims higher. \u201cI think when you\u2019re talking about us in the same breath as Chelsea, that\u2019s obviously pretty good considering there\u2019s only eight games left of the season but the reality is we could\u2019ve produced more tonight,\u201d said Brentford\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n

Wolves had been cut to ribbons in the first half until Adam Armstrong\u2019s 44th-minute goal offered a route back. They then went close to repeating the heroics of beating Liverpool<\/a> a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n

Brentford\u2019s excellent first half featured redemption for Dango Ouattara, forgiven for his Panenka FA Cup faux-pas<\/a>, at the heart of his team\u2019s best moments.<\/p>\n

A deserved lead arrived when Keane Lewis-Potter\u2019s left-wing cross was aimed for Thiago, only to drop for Michael Kayode to nod home. Not a bad finish from someone scoring their first goal in English football, a reminder there is far more to the Italian\u2019s game than long throws.<\/p>\n

Thiago\u2019s goal followed swiftly, via route-one means. Caoimh\u00edn Kelleher\u2019s long punt was controlled deftly by Ouattara, who laid on the striker to score a goal celebrated with a flourish and gratitude offered to the heavens above for a perfect day so far. \u201cWhen he pulls on that iconic jersey it will be a special moment for all of us,\u201d said Andrews of the 19-goal striker given Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s call.<\/p>\n

Brentford might soon have had three, Thiago nodding against the bar from a Kayode throw, a miss rued when Armstrong, supplied by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, thumped in his first goal for Wolves. Brentford had legitimate claims that Jos\u00e9 S\u00e1, the opposing keeper, had picked up a backpass. \u201cIt gave us belief,\u201d said Edwards.<\/p>\n

Michael Kayode scores Brentford\u2019s first goal against Wolves. Photograph: Julian Finney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Angel Gomes was Wolves\u2019 half-time introduction to disrupt Brentford\u2019s plan of hitting their front players as soon as possible, bypassing Andr\u00e9 and Jo\u00e3o Gomes, neither of whom will be flying back with Thiago for Brazil duty but who soon began to exert heavy midfield influence.<\/p>\n

Wolves\u2019 renewed confidence was evidenced by Jackson Tchatchoua\u2019s volleyed snapshot. Next, Armstrong hit the foot of a post with Kelleher stranded. With Wolves showing that even the Premier League\u2019s bottom club is laden with talent, the contest had tilted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe it to the football club, ourselves, the fans to keep fighting all the way until the 38th game, so we\u2019ll do that,\u201d said Edwards, whose team must now wait 25 days to face West Ham.<\/p>\n

A panicked clearance from Nathan Collins personified a growing anxiety among Brentford fans, players and their manager. \u201cWe didn\u2019t do the basics as well as we did in the first half and, ultimately, it cost us,\u201d said Andrews.<\/p>\n

Angel Gomes zipped a shot wide before eventually Wolves\u2019 growing pressure told. Jo\u00e3o Gomes\u2019 ball across the Brentford box beat everyone except Arokodare, who just three minutes after coming on, stooped to head home. His later header against the bar came from Hugo Bueno\u2019s cross, disappointment for Wolves, denied that first away win even if their comeback had inflicted heavy damage on Brentford.<\/p>\n

The Brentford substitute Reiss Nelson\u2019s header wide was a chance to steal victory passed up by a poor execution that had become endemic within his teammates since the break. It would also have been cruel on Wolves, a team surely doomed yet still refusing to lie down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Igor Thiago, celebrating his first call-up to the Brazil squad, scored his fourth goal in four games,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-541366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}