Tumbling Ivan Toney branded a diver by Joachim Andersen

Ivan Toney was branded a jumper after Vitaly Janelt’s stoppage-time equalizer extended Brentford’s unbeaten run to 11 Premier League games. Crystal Palace were seconds away from their first win this year when the substitute headed Bryan Mbeumo’s cross in the 96th minute.

Palace substitute Eberechi Eze opened the scoring in the 69th minute with a header from Michael Olise’s shot.

Toney, the hosts’ top scorer, had few chances to add to his tally of 15 goals, but the striker was involved in the most controversial incident of the match. Early in the second half, he appeared to try to trick referee Paul Tierney into awarding a penalty.

“He likes to go down easy, I knew that, he deserved a clear yellow,” said Joachim Andersen, the defender in question, who had barely moved when Toney went down. You see it very often with the strikers.

Andersen appeared to snap at Toney to his face at the time, and the Brentford man pressed his forehead against the Dane’s. Tierney had words with the couple and the VAR did not intervene.

Toney deserves his superstar status in this part of London, according to Janelt. He said: ‘We don’t have a hero, but if we did it’s Iván, as he has scored a lot of goals this season.’

Janelt also epitomizes the rise of Thomas Frank’s team from near-men’s championship to European contenders in the space of three seasons. The 24-year-old German arrived in October 2020 and only joined because he was not happy with then second division club Bochum.

“I only knew that they had lost the play-offs against Fulham, that was it,” he said. “I didn’t really play for my old club, so I said: ‘I have to change something’.”