Brentford forward Ivan Toney continued his impressive career penalty record as he scored from the spot during his side’s 3-2 victory in the West London derby on Monday night.
With the score at 1-1 heading into the second half, Christian Norgaard won Brentford a penalty that could restore their early lead. Prior to this, the home side had gone 1-0 up after just six minutes thanks to a deflected Ethan Pinnock strike.
However, Manor Solomon’s rebounded finish from an Andreas Pereira free kick brought Fulham level at the interval.
But Ivan Toney made sure that Brentford went ahead once more with a typically cool penalty. Using his trademark short run-up, the forward casually stroked the ball past a despairing Bernd Leno to give the Bees a lead that they would not relinquish.
Mathias Jensen secured all three points for Brentford in the 85th minute. The Dane tucked away Kevin Schade’s cut-back to make the game 3-1. Then, in injury-time, Carlos Vinicius added a consolation for Fulham.
With this victory, Brentford closed the gap on their local rivals as the two sides race for a European spot. Meanwhile, Ivan Toney added to his insane penalty record with his goal on Monday night.
Ivan Toney: an unmissable penalty record
His most recent effort from the spot puts Ivan Toney at 22 converted penalties from 22 attempts in a Brentford shirt. To put it simply, if his side gets a penalty, the Englishman is almost guaranteed to score it.
Additionally, Ivan Toney has an almost historic Premier League penalty record. He has 10 goals from 10 pens in his career in the English topflight – a figure only bettered by one player.
And that man is Yaya Toure; the ex-Man City midfielder scored 11 out of 11 spot-kicks in his career.
There is, therefore, a chance that Toney could match or even overtake Toure in this stat soon.
Per Transfermarkt, the Brentford forward has found the net 28 times from the spot throughout his career. In fact, he has only missed once. This occurred during the 2018/19 campaign when Toney was upfront for Peterborough.
But that is not to say that Toney only provides penalties. This season, the 26-year-old has been in stellar form, registering 15 goals and three assists. With this, Toney has already beaten his goal tally from the previous campaign.
It is no wonder that his manager, Thomas Frank, is full of praise for his star player.
Thomas Frank praises key forward
After hailing Toney as “the best penalty taker in the world”, the Brentford boss had further kind words for his striker.
“He is a special footballer,” Frank told Sky Sports. “I think his character is unique in terms of leadership and driving his team. His link-up play and the way he sees his teammates around him in terms of combinations and then his ability to score goals – he is an all-round football player.”
Unfortunately, Ivan Toney is playing with the threat of an FA suspension looming over his head. The FA is currently investigating him for alleged betting breaches. However, Thomas Frank believes that Toney’s focus means that this does not affect his on-pitch performance.
“It is a unique skill with him,” added his manager. “I think in general before this situation with the case going on, before that, that unique ability to focus on games and training and he has kept doing that, so it doesn’t surprise me.
“He doesn’t like the situation, but he has top focus. [Toney] is always aware of what’s happening around him, he’s never switching off.”
Toney should be available for Brentford once more when they take on Everton on Saturday afternoon.
Featured image credit: Getty