Everton 2-4 Brentford: Igor Thiago keeps Golden Boot race a contest with hat trick

1 week ago 2

Igor Thiago is doing his darnedest to make the Golden Boot race a race this season, as the big, bruising Brazilian bagged a hat trick and led Brentford to a 4-2 victory away to Everton on Sunday.

WATCH — Everton v Brentford full match replay

Brentford were brilliant early in both halves with Thiago scoring the opener in the 11th minute, tacking on the Bees' third in the 51st and finishing finishing the job on a breakaway in the 88th. Nathan Collins headed home his first of the season from a corner kick in the 50th to make it 2-0 in the midst of Thiago's tear. Jack Grealish found Beto and Thierno Barry with a pair of brilliant crosses in the 66th and 91st, but the Toffees were three goals down each time they tallied and looked a long way gone at that point.

Thiago is is up to 14 goals on the season (one of two in double digits), but he still trails Erling Haaland by five after recording his first PL hat trick. The victory sends Brentford (30 points) up to 7th in the table, just a point off Manchester United for 5th place (possible Champions League place) after 20 games. Everton (28 points) are 11th.

What’s next?

Brentford vs Sunderland — Wednesday, 2:30 pm ET
Everton vs Wolves — Wednesday, 2:30 pm ET

Everton vs Brentford live updates - by Andy Edwards

Everton vs Brentford final score: 2-4

Goalscorers: Igor Thiago (11', 52', 88') Nathan Collins (50'), Beto (66'), Thierno Barry (90'+1)

GOAL! Everton 2-4 Brentford: Barry heads home Grealish’s cross (90'+1)

GOAL! Everton 1-4 Brentford: Thiago gets his hat trick (88')

GOAL! Everton 1-3 Brentford: Grealish finds Beto with a cross (66')

GOAL! Everton 0-3 Brentford: Thiago takes it from Schade and scores again (51')

GOAL! Everton 0-2 Brentford: Collins heads home from a corner kick (50')

GOAL! Everton 0-1 Brentford: Janelt wins it back and quickly finds Thiago (11')

Everton starting lineup

Pickford - O'Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko - Iroegbunam, Garner, McNeil - Dibling, Grealish, Barry

Brentford starting lineup

Kelleher - Kayode, Ajer, Collins, Hickey - Janelt, Jensen, Yarmoliuk - Damsgaard, Schade, Thiago

How to watch Everton vs Brentford live, stream link and start time

Kick off time: 10am ET Sunday (January 4)
Venue: Hill Dickinson Stadium — Liverpool
TV Channel: Peacock
Streaming: Stream live on Peacock

The Toffees won 2-0 at Nottingham Forest last time out and David Moyes' side continue to be solid defensively and are working a few things out in attack despite missing key players.

Brentford are a real handful to play against and they drew 0-0 at home to Spurs on Thursday as they continue to overachieve and sit one point behind Everton heading into this game.

Everton team news, focus

Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye are at AFCON, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Carlos Alcaraz and Seamus Coleman are out injured. Michael Keane is pushing to be available, while Thierno Barry will likely get the nod to start up top.

Brentford team news, focus

Frank Onyeka and Dango Ouattara are away at AFCON, while Josh Dasilva, Fabio Carvalho and Antoni Milambo are out injured. Once again the duo of Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago will look to cause havoc on the counter.