“Man City Are In Fact Beatable”... Ivan Toney Tells Other Teams After Brentford Victory.

Ivan Toney has revealed how teams can be able to get a win when they play against the champions Manchester City.

After being snubbed by England boss Gareth Southgate in his 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the Brentford striker responded perfectly by scoring twice as the Bees stuns Man City on Saturday afternoon.

The Brentford captain Toney opened the scoring at the Etihad Stadium as he outmuscled City defender Manuel Akanji to send a looping header over Ederson in the 16th minute.

Phil Foden who returned to the starting XI, struck a wonderful volley in first-half injury time to level the scores for the host.

Despite Erling Haaland presence, Pep Guardiola's men were frustrated by a mixture of poor finishing, wasteful passing and resilient Brentford defending before Toney capped a statement performance by sensationally tapping in the winning goal in the 97th-minute.

Toney could have scored a hat-trick, having giving himself the best chance with all six of his shots on target. He had the most touches of the ball out of any Brentford player and played the most passes of their outfielders. Producing a masterclass in leading the line, and bullying a defence of possibly the best team in the world.

It was was a statement performance by Toney from start to finish of the game which might have left Gareth Southgate wondering if he had made the right decision not to take him to Qatar.

The victory for Thomas Frank's side, ends City’s 16 game winning run at the Etihad as they failed to temporarily go top of the table.

Arsenal’s 2-0 victory later at Wolves means they are now five points clear of the Premier League champions ahead of the World Cup break.

Mikel Arteta’s side would sit top of the table on Christmas Day for the first time in 15 years. 37 points from 14 games makes it Arsenal's best ever start to a league season, yet still so many, including members of their own fanbase, are refusing to get involved in talks of a title challenge.

Speaking after the game, Toney explained how the Bees approached the mental aspect of the task to show the mighty City are in fact beatable. 

He made an interesting comment for other teams yet to face Man City;

“What we’re doing week in, week out on the training pitch, we can do things like this,” the 26-year-old told BT Sport.

“They might be Man City but they’re humans and humans can lose games. Dedication and wanting to work hard for each other, we showed that today and I think we deserved the three points at the end.”

The England international also talked about his World Cup snub in the England squad:

“Listen, the only thing is to keep doing well, keep doing our best, keep doing well for the team and you never know what can happen,”...He said.

“Obviously disappointed over England, but I know what I’m capable of. I won’t let it put me down, I’ll keep going and keep doing well for Brentford.”

In the attack for England going into the tournament in Qatar, Southgate picked the likes of Man United’s Marcus Rashford, Man City's duo Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, Tottenham’s Harry Kane, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling from Chelsea and Callum Wilson from Newcastle United.

The Three Lions who narrowly missed out on winning the EURO 2020 on home soil, having lost to Italy in the final via penalties, will begin their World Cup campaign against Iran in Group B on Monday 21 November, before they face USA and Wales respectively.