Brentford secure Premier League promotion with EFL Championship play off final win over Swansea

Brentford will play in the top tier of English football for the first time since 1947 after beating Swansea City 2-0 in the EFL Championship playoff final at Wembley.

An Ivan Toney penalty and Emiliano Marcondes volley in the opening 20 minutes were enough to give Brentford an unassailable lead over Steve Cooper’s Swansea, who spent the final quarter of the game with just 10 men after Jay Fulton was handed a straight red card. For the Bees, their progress to the top flight, and the estimated $250million prize that comes with it, was altogether more straightforward than they could have imagined after several years of near misses in the Championship, where their elegant football and shrewd recruitment won them a host of admirers.

Nine previous attempts at promotion through the play offs had ended in disappointment for Brentford, most recently defeat to west London rivals Fulham at Wembley in last season’s final, but they betrayed no fear of failure as their tenth attempt began with Thomas Frank’s side immediately setting the tone for the contest with energetic pressing, lightning quick attacks and incisive passing.

After only 10 minutes they were in the lead. Sergi Canos drifted infield of the left flank and slid a pass in behind the Swansea defense to the onrushing Bryan Mbeumo, who beat Freddie Woodman to the ball and drew the foul. Toney was composure personified from the spot, a measured run-up ending with the goalkeeper guessing right but not coming all that close to reaching a shot that nestled in the bottom corner.

Swansea found themselves in a Catch 22 position, needing to advance up the pitch to quell the pressure on Woodman’s goal but in the process leaving space in behind for Brentford to counter with precision. They did exactly that, Mbeumo finding an overlapping Mads Roerslev, whose cross to the back post was hammered home by Emiliano. A minute later the game could have been over, Toney controlling a bouncing ball with his chest before hammering a volley against the crossbar. The ball flew into the turf behind Woodman, mere millimetres away from sneaking across the line.

Andre Ayew came close to halving Swansea’s deficit at the start of the second half, darting between Brentford’s center backs only to flick Connor Roberts’ cross wide of the far post. That preceded a spell of greater pressure from the Welsh side but it did not pay off with a goal before Fulton caught his foot on Mathias Jensen’s left heel, his slip turning into a horrifying two-footed tackle that left referee Chris Kavanagh with no choice but to send off the midfielder.

That effectively ended the game as a contest though Jake Bidwell’s block from Toney’s low drive inside the box at least ensured the damage did not get any more severe for Swansea, who must plan for a fourth consecutive season in the Championship and may have to do without key loanees such as Marc Guehi, Freddie Woodman and Conor Hourihane. There will also be questions over whether star forward Andre Ayew can be retained for next season’s promotion push.

These have been familiar questions for Brentford over recent years where they have seen the likes of Neal Maupay, Said Benrahma and Ollie Watkins lured away by top flight football. It is not necessarily given that the likes of Toney will stay — the Bees have never hidden from the fact that every player in their squad has a price at which business will be done — but Frank and those around him will be well-placed to build the group they want for the first Premier League season in more than 70 years.