Analysis: Mbeumo and Wissa the Premier League's 'most lethal' strike duo | OneFootball

Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa cemented their status as the most lethal strike duo in the Premier League this season as Brentford returned to winning ways at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday, courtesy of a 4-2 victory over Brighton.

Two fine strikes from Mbeumo, a deflected effort from Wissa, and a late Christian Nørgaard header did the damage for the hosts against a Seagulls side reduced to 10 men on the hour when João Pedro lashed out at Nathan Collins and received a straight red card.

Despite Danny Welbeck and Kaoru Mitoma netting for the visitors, Brentford overcame their south-coast visitors to move within three points of a European spot - and the sheer attacking verve shown by the Bees left manager Thomas Frank purring.

"We were such a threat going forward, so dangerous... just a pleasure to watch," said the Danish head coach afterwards, and his on-fire strike pairing was undoubtedly the headline act.

Mbeumo and Wissa have now both featured on the scoresheet in seven Premier League games this season, more than any other strike pair in the division.

Their mission now, should they choose to accept it, is to try and score in 10 games in a single top-flight campaign, a feat managed by Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino in 2017/18 and by Salah and Sadio Mané in 2021/22.

With 18 and 16 Premier League goals respectively, Mbeumo and Wissa are enjoying career-best campaigns, and their chemistry has contributed hugely to what is on track to be the Bees' highest-scoring Premier League season to date.

Brentford have fired home 56 league goals this term, just two shy of their best-ever top-tier goal tally, and Mbeumo's opener against the Seagulls was a collector's item!

The Cameroon international latched onto a wonderful defence-splitting pass from Keane Lewis-Potter to slot past Bart Verbruggen to give Brentford the lead after nine minutes - and Mbeumo's clinical finish was made even more remarkable by the fact it was with his right foot!

After 17 left-footed goals this season, the forward's opener marked his first with his weak foot in 2024/25... and only his second right-footed Premier League goal ever (the other coming versus Aston Villa last term).

In Expected Goals terms, Mbeumo has no right to be fourth in the Premier League goal charts at the moment, as the 25-year-old has outperformed his xG of 11.55 by a whopping +6.45 this season.

In other words, according to the expected goals metric, the average player would typically have scored six goals fewer than the 18 Mbeumo has registered.

While we're on the subject, Wissa's xG-per-shot of 0.22 is right up there among the best in the Premier League. As a club, Brentford (0.15) have the highest xG-per-shot in the entire division this season and the 28-year-old's ability to get on the end of high-quality chances certainly factors heavily into this.

Mbeumo and Wissa's stunning individual campaigns have elevated the Bees' attack this season, but their fourth goal of the afternoon against Brighton showed that two of their core strengths remain undiminished.

Frank's side have consistently ranked near the top of the Premier League in terms of their set-piece prowess and aerial dominance, and Nørgaard's flicked header from a fantastic wide free-kick from sub Mathias Jensen combined both of these areas.

Brentford (11) have now scored more headed goals than any team in the Premier League this season and only Crystal Palace, Aston Villa (both 14) and the Bees’ next opponents - Nottingham Forest (12) - have scored more goals from set-pieces than the west Londoners.