Brentford scored three second-half goals to edge an important Premier League victory over Luton at Gtech Community Stadium.
Neal Maupay opened the scoring and Ben Mee added a second soon after. Although Luton’s Jacob Brown pulled a goal back, Shandon Baptiste sealed a 3-1 success for Thomas Frank’s men with nine minutes remaining.
However, the Bees’ injury troubles worsened when Kristoffer Ajer picked up a knock in the warm-up, with Saman Ghoddos replacing him.
The hosts lacked any edge to their play in the first half as they struggled to play without midfield operator Mathias Jensen, who remained sidelined with an abductor injury.
Luton’s absent Alfie Doughty, who picked up a hip injury in the week, was replaced by centre-back Amari’i Bell, who slotted in as a makeshift left-wing back.
In the early stages of the contest, Bryan Mbeumo beat Jamaica international Bell on the outside, before his deft cross was dealt with by Luton’s tight defence.
Neither side registered a shot on target inside the first half hour, although Yehor Yarmoliuk came close for the hosts. The midfielder’s close-range effort took a heavy deflection off Carlton Morris before the ball narrowly missed the inside of Thomas Kaminski’s post and went out for a corner.
The Bees gained momentum from this and Mbeumo was in the thick of things again in the 37th minute. The attacker glided past his marker, driving inside, before producing a whipped curling shot which narrowly missed the target.
The six-goal man was Brentford’s only real outlet in the first half and his neat flicks and feints opened opportunities up for attack partner Yoane Wissa, who tested Kaminski moments later.
The home side came out for the second half strongly and broke the deadlock in the 49th minute.
The pacey Wissa took up a dangerous position on the left and sent a testing cross into the box. The ball cannoned off Gabriel Osho and into the path of the alert Maupay, who opened the scoring.
Frank’s half-time wisdom paid dividends for the west Londoners and they doubled their lead in the 56th minute through Mee.
Mbeumo’s corner found the head of the rising central defender, whose effort deflected off Morris and into Kaminski’s net.
Luton had paid the price for an erratic opening 10 minutes of the second half, as their defensive structure and organisation abandoned them.
However, Rob Edwards’ team sought a way back and Brown, who helped them to a first home win of the season last week, came off the bench to make it 2-1 in the 76th minute.
A week after his 83rd-minute winner against Crystal Palace, Brown cut through the middle of the Brentford backline and shot powerfully into the bottom corner of Mark Flekken’s goal.
However, in keeping with the Hatters’ day, a series of mishaps led to Brentford sealing the win five minutes later.
The ball pinballed around Luton’s penalty box and no defender managed to clear their lines before a poor parried save from Kaminski gifted Baptiste with an easy tap-in to round off the scoring.
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Haaland has 'full trust' in Guardiola to halt Man City slump
Erling Haaland has "full trust" in the "best manager in the world", Pep Guardiola, to get Manchester City back on track against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.
Guardiola's side have lost four matches in a row across all competitions, which is the Spaniard's longest losing run in his entire managerial career.
The Citizens last lost more consecutively between March and April 2006 under Stuart Pearce (six – the fifth game of which was also against Tottenham).
But after putting pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension at the club earlier this week, Guardiola has his eyes firmly set on returning to winning ways on home soil.
And Haaland, who has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances under Guardiola at City, believes they can make up the gap to leaders Liverpool, who are five points ahead.
"When you look at what he's been doing for the club, he's not bad, is he? So he's got my full trust," Haaland told Sky Sports.
"And if he tells me something, I'd better do it because he knows the best in the end. Everyone knows that. So I'm sure he will find solutions now as well. I'm sure of that.
"[Guardiola] demands us to be at our best in every training session, in every game. And that's what we need to do. It hasn't been good enough, losing four games now, but let's try to win the next."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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