James Milner broke the Premier League appearance record as Brighton ended a run of six league games without a victory with a 2-0 win at Brentford. Milner, who made his league debut in 2002, played his 654th league match on Saturday, moving him clear of Gareth Barry in the all-time standings. The 40-year-old's history-making appearance was marked with a victory, with Brighton the better side at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Brighton were thumped 3-0 by Liverpool at Anfield last Saturday, with Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah all on target in a comfortable win for the Reds. It was a result that meant the Seagulls have now won just two of their last 15 games in all competitions (D6 L7), losing three on the bounce without scoring for the first time since March 2024, piling the pressure on Hurzeler.
When the news cycle spins so fast, it's worth remembering where Brentford were in the summer. They had lost their popular manager of seven years, Thomas Frank. They had lost their two best forwards, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa. They had lost their goalkeeper Mark Flekken. And they had lost two stalwarts in Christian Nrgaard and Ben Mee (even if the latter's involvement the previous season had been limited as he turned 35).
Tammy Abraham thought he had made a goalscoring return, his first since winning promotion from the Championship seven years ago, but then it was all eyes on the referee, Tim Robinson, and the big screens that indicated a review. At Stockley Park, the video assistant referee, Paul Tierney, rewound the clock by 19 seconds, to the moment Leon Bailey, at the opposite end of the pitch, was deemed to have failed to keep the ball in play.
