Analysis: Ouattara delivers again in historic Brentford win at Newcastle | OneFootball

Brentford ended their St James' Park hoodoo in style on Saturday with a fine 3-2 win over Newcastle, with Dango Ouattara again underlining his knack for the big occasion.

The Burkina Faso international has returned from Africa Cup of Nations duty with a bang, as he followed up his match-winning effort against Aston Villa last weekend with the Bees' late decider against the Magpies.

Only Man Utd (14) have picked up more Premier League points than Brentford (13) since the turn of the year, with no team scoring more away goals (eight), and Keith Andrews' side delivered a display brimming with bravado in their victory in the north east.

Newcastle's Sven Botman broke the deadlock from a corner - only the fourth set-piece Brentford have conceded all season - but the west Londoners bounced back to lead at the interval.

Vitaly Janelt headed home an inviting Ouattara cross to level before Igor Thiago coolly slotted home from the penalty spot in the dying seconds of the half.

Bruno Guimarães' 79th-minute penalty fired up the Magpies, but only Liverpool can match Brentford (14) for goals scored after the 75-minute mark this season, and the Bees left it fashionably late to bag all three points.

Freed by Mathias Jensen's perfectly weighted pass, Ouattara's angled drive sped past Nick Pope to ripple the net with five minutes left on the clock, and Brentford hung on to clinch a historic first win at St James' Park since 1934.

On his 100th Premier League appearance, Ouattara dazzled throughout. After snapping up the pacy forward for a club-record fee last summer, Bees head coach Andrews described him as a player who gets fans off their seats, and his penchant for deciding matches is proving unrivalled in the top flight this season.

After decisive strikes home and away against Aston Villa, Ouattara now has three match-winning goals to his name in 2025/26, with only Fulham's Raúl Jiménez and Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers able to match him.

In addition to his goal and assist, the forward played a central role in Thiago's penalty on the stroke of half-time. Bursting onto Michael Kayode's pass, the 23-year-old sent Newcastle defender Kieran Trippier skidding with a sharp turn before squaring for Jensen, whose shot was handled by Jacob Murphy.

No player across Europe's top five leagues has won more penalties this season than Ouattara (four), who is level with Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé, so his involvement in the build-up to the spot-kick was perhaps unsurprising.

Among Europe's elite leagues, only Los Blancos (11) have been awarded more penalties than Brentford (eight) and Thiago's sixth successful conversion took him to 17 Premier League goals this term. To put that in context, the Brazilian has now outscored Wolverhampton Wanderers this season.

Over the past eight Premier League games, only Arsenal (17) have picked up more points than Brentford's sixteen - a stat that makes Thursday’s home clash with the Gunners even more mouth-watering.