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Louise Thomas

Editor

Thomas Frank insisted there is method to the madness after Brentford raced into the Premier League record books.

The Bees became the first team to score in the first minute of three consecutive matches after Bryan Mbeumo’s 37-second strike against West Ham.

But, just like in the previous two games against Manchester City and Tottenham, they were unable to hold on to their early lead and Tomas Soucek grabbed a second-half equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw for the Hammers.

Nevertheless, Frank admitted that lightning striking three times in a row was “crazy”.

He added: “Is it just the Premier League? There are lots of leagues. I need to know if it’s a world record or not.”

West Ham had hardly touched the ball when Bees winger Kevin Schade collected it on the right of the Hammers’ penalty area and lifted it into the centre.

Jean-Clair Todibo’s weak headed clearance was pounced upon by Fabio Carvalho, who nodded it back towards Mbeumo.

The ball was slightly behind the striker but he still managed to produce a superb, controlled volley with his left foot into the top corner.

“Of course there is planning that goes into it,” explained Frank. “We have a kick-off strategy and we tweak it from game to game. And as a mindset and philosophy we like to get straight on the front foot and be positive.

“There are some margins going our way of course, but I want to give credit to the coaching staff and the players.”

West Ham could hardly say they had not been warned, and boss Julen Lopetegui admitted as much.

“We knew they put this kind of rhythm in the start,” he said. “They did it two times in the last two matches and they did it again today. We knew.”

Lopetegui, under some pressure after heavy back-to-back defeats by Chelsea and Liverpool, changed formation at the break and was rewarded when Soucek swept home the equaliser nine minutes into the second half.

“After this tough start I think we had the character to get back into the match,” added the Spaniard.

“It’s the first match they didn’t win at home this season. We had the personality to win the match. After a bad start we had the character to change the match as we had clear situations to win the match.

“We wanted three points and in the second half I think we deserved three points.”

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