Ayew shows Prem desperation in Swans’ first leg win

Andre Ayew scored a thumping winner in Swansea’s play-off semi final first leg win over Brentford as his side put in an impressive display against the promotion favourites.

The cliche is that the side finishing third always loses momentum heading into the play-offs, but in Brentford’s case many were still expecting them to take things in their stride, after an excellent Championship campaign.

And with a front three of Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma and Brian Mbeumo, the Bees were always going to be confident, but instead it was Swansea’s newly formed trio of Andre Ayew, Rhian Brewster and Conor Gallagher that took control of the tie.

An edgy yet high quality first half ended goalless despite Brewster and Benrahma both continuing to look more than ready for the league they’re competing for, but an impressive second 45 saw Swansea take control of the tie in impressive, but narrow, fashion.

Brewster was involved once again in crucial fashion less than 20 minutes after the break, dinking into the box before being taken down by Pontus Jansson, gifting Swansea the chance to capitalise on their quick restart.

David Raya produced a dominant and momentum shifting save to deny Ayew from the spot, but had his effort instantly cancelled out, as teammate Rico Henry received a straight red for a controversial ball-winning, but late, challenge straight after.

And with nine minutes to play Ayew atoned for his penalty miss in wonderful fashion, starting and finishing a deft passing move around the Brentford box, before thumping home the game’s only goal.

The second leg will take place on Wednesday, with Brentford needing to win in their last game at Griffin Park to keep their hopes of christening the new Brentford Community Stadium in the Premier League.

💥Most tackles by attacking players (Championship; 2019/20):

69🗜️: 💪@AyewAndre💪
61🗜️: Jamal Lowe
55🗜️: Joe Lolley
47🗜️: Sammy Ameobi
46🗜️: Junior Hoilett, Marcus Tavernier#Swansea #Swans @SwansOfficial pic.twitter.com/YYyi0QeiGx

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) July 25, 2020