Kevin Schade scored a superb hat-trick and provided another as Brentford sealed a fourth straight Premier League home win to defeat Leicester 4-1 in front of the watching Ruud van Nistelrooy at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.
Leicester started positively enough as Jamie Vardy raced onto a Jordan Ayew pass to outmuscle Ethan Pinnock and set up the returning Facundo Buonanotte for his fourth goal of the season (21).
Brentford have made a habit of scoring soon after restarts – and they needed just four minutes to restore parity as Yoane Wissa tucked home Schade’s cross after good work from Mikkel Damsgaard (25).
The turnaround was complete just four minutes later as Wissa found Bryan Mbeumo on the right for his deflected cross to be swept home by Schade for his first Premier League goal since April.
The Germany international celebrated his second on the stroke of half-time as he raced onto Damsgaard’s pass to coolly lift his shot over the onrushing Mads Hermansen (45+8).
Schade, who had not scored in his previous 16 league appearances, completed his hat-trick on the hour-mark as he latched onto Nathan Collins’ pass to slide his finish into the net.
The result means Brentford have won four straight top-flight home games for the first time since 1937, rising to eighth in the table while Leicester stay in 16th place.
Wout Faes is powerless to stop Brentford’s third goal
As one-sided a contest as you will see all season
Leicester have won just one of their last 15 away games in the Premier League (D5 L9), keeping just one clean sheet and conceding 34 goals (2.3 per game) in this spell
Van Nistelrooy, who has signed a three-year deal at King Power Stadium, spoke of how impressed he was by Leicester’s history after being unveiled as their new manager on Friday.
The former Manchester United striker was in attendance in west London – but the Dutchman will now be under no illusions of the size of his task keeping the Foxes afloat as he takes to the dugout for the first time on Tuesday at home to West Ham.
Facundo Buonanotte celebrates putting Leicester in front
Brentford have had a relatively kind set of opening home fixtures, but the manner in which most teams have simply been dispatched here is a testament to the job Thomas Frank continues to do.
There is a unity and strength – as the Bees boss led the lap of appreciation at full-time – that is severely lacking in the fragmented Leicester ranks as they dispersed down the tunnel and into the night.
Van Nistelrooy may have had a few choice words in the dressing room for his new group of players as they front up to the challenge of somehow preserving their Premier League status.
It was against the run of play when Vardy was rewarded for his persistence to provide Buonanotte with the opening goal. But either side of that lapse in concentration from Pinnock, this was about as one-sided a contest as you will see all season.
Player of the match – Kevin Schade
Kevin Schade celebrates after completing his hat-trick against Leicester
Kevin Schade was only the fourth German to score a hat-trick in the Premier League, along with Jürgen Klinsmann (1998), Fredi Bobic (2002), and André Schürrle (2014). He was only the second player to do so for Brentford in the competition, after Ivan Toney (twice). Schade had just two goals in his first 41 Premier League appearances before today.
Brentford’s impenetrable fortress – Opta stats
Brentford have won more of their seven Premier League home games this season (6) than they managed in the whole of last season in the competition (5). The Bees have more points at home in the competition this term (19) than any other side
- Seven of Yoane Wissa’s eight Premier League goals for Brentford this season have been scored at the Gtech Community Stadium (88%); no player has more home goals in the competition in 2024-25.
- Facundo Buonanotte has scored four goals in 11 Premier League games for Leicester, as many as he has netted in 40 appearances for parent club Brighton in the competition.
- Brentford have scored 3+ goals in the first half of two Premier League games this season (also v Wolves in October), something they only achieved once in 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 combined in the competition.
- Brentford became the first side to score 20+ goals at home in the Premier League this season. After seven home games, it’s the earliest into a league season that the Bees have reached 20+ home goals since 1982-83 (also 7), and earliest in the top-flight since 1936-37 (also 7).
