Brentford 0 Nottingham Forest 2

Brentford fell to their first home defeat of the season as Nottingham Forest claimed a 2-0 victory on Saturday afternoon.The Bees, who had won seven and drawn one of their opening eight Premier League fixtures at Gtech Community Stadium, started the game well but goals either side of half-time from Ola Aina and Anthony Elanga secured the three points for the visitors.

Thomas Frank made three changes to the starting XI from the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Newcastle United as Christian Nørgaard returned alongside Mikkel Damsgaard and Bryan Mbeumo and the Bees reverted to a back four.

They replaced Ethan Pinnock - who picked up a hamstring injury at St. James' Park - Yehor Yarmoliuk and Fábio Carvalho, with the latter duo being named among the substitutes.

Brentford had the first opening of the game with just over three minutes played. Mbeumo played the ball around the corner for Yoane Wissa, who then pulled it back into the middle of the box for the arriving Damsgaard but the Danish midfielder saw his left-footed shot parried by Matz Sels.

Mbeumo created the next opportunity under five minutes later but his dangerous cross from the right wing, coming after a corner was only half-cleared, was headed wide by Kristoffer Ajer.

Mark Flekken was brought into action for the first time on 18 minutes, as he caught Chris Wood's tame effort from just inside the D following good work from Morgan Gibbs-White.

Wissa went close at the other end shortly afterwards, bringing down Morato's miskicked clearance which flew straight up in the air, before his acrobatic effort looped onto the roof of the net from eight yards.

Moments later, Mbeumo flashed the ball across the face of goal, just out of the reach of Wissa, as the Bees continued to dominate.

A superb save from Flekken prevented Forest from taking the lead at the other end. Wood met Elliot Anderson's cross from the byline but the Bees keeper somehow turned his header around the post with a strong left hand.

The visitors did open the scoring on 38 minutes, though. Neco Williams reached the byline and pulled the ball back across the box, with Wood missing it before Aina arrived to pass into the bottom corner.

Forest doubled their advantage early in the second half. Elanga pounced on a rare loose touch from Keane Lewis-Potter before driving into the box and curling into the bottom corner of Flekken's goal.

Brentford continued to push numbers forward with the visitors being a constant threat on the counter-attack as Flekken pulled off a smart stop to deny Elanga a quickfire brace.

Sels preserved Forest's two-goal cushion with a stunning reaction save on 62 minutes. Damsgaard's back-post cross was nodded back into the middle by Mbeumo for Ajer, who struck his volley well but the Belgian keeper somehow palmed it over the bar.

Mads Roerslev, who had only just been introduced from the bench, then came up with an important intervention of his own as, after a touch from Collins took an Aina cross away from Wood, he got his leg in the way of Hudson-Odoi's effort on the rebound.

The Bees continued to push for a way back into the game but Forest held firm, repelling numerous balls into the box, to register a clean sheet.

Roerslev was forced from the field in the final minute of added time after an elbow inadvertently cut the defender's head.

Brentford: Flekken; Ajer, (Roerslev 67 (Konak 90+5)), Collins, Mee, Lewis-Potter; Janelt (Maghoma 67), Nørgaard, Damsgaard; Schade (Carvalho 81), Mbeumo, Wissa

Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Yarmoliuk, Meghoma, Ji-Soo, Yogane

Nottingham Forest: Sels; Murillo, Milenković, Morato; Aina, Gibbs-White (Silva 75), Anderson (Domínguez 64), Williams (Toffolo 90+3); Elanga (Yates 64), Hudson-Odoi; Wood (Awoniyi 90+2)

Subs not used: Miguel, Ward-Prowse, Moreno, Boly

Attendance: 17,115

Frank: On another day, we could have got something

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank analysed the Bees' defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

"We played a game where, in big spells, we dominated and were on top. We lacked the last cutting edge to create chance, after chance, after chance - but I thought it was enough to score at least one goal," said Frank.

"Nottingham Forest defended well in big spells of the game - they also played 5-4-1, which is the first time they've done that this season, even after going to Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal, where they played a four[-man defence]. That's a big credit to what we've done.

"Of course we need to learn from that and work out how to solve that better in the future. I still think we did enough to, on another day, play the same game again, get a different outcome."

Mee on his return to Premier League action

Ben Mee has spoken about his return to the Brentford starting XI and how he's planning on staying there over the coming weeks.

"It's been a bit frustrating for me so far this season, but I've been biding my time and I now want to get a run in the side and improve the team a bit," he said.

"A couple of games in a few days has been a bit of a surprise to the body! But it's been enjoyable to be back out there, [it's] the first time I've started a Premier League game in 10 months.

"I was quite pleased in the way I handled things today, the way I went about it. I finished the game quite strongly, so hopefully I can get my sharpness up and be involved in the next few games."