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Brentford and Burnley produced a Premier League classic, with the Bees coming out 4-3 winners in an edge-of-the-seat thriller.

They threw away a three-goal lead before midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard’s 93rd-minute goal helped them edge past Burnley, but that was far from the end of the drama at Turf Moor.

Clarets striker Ashley Barnes thought he had equalised in the 98th minute, only for the goal to be ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR) for a handball which needed four minutes and two different angles to be confirmed.

It was not the straightforward win that Brentford manager Keith Andrews would have hoped for to celebrate signing a new contract until 2032 this week.

“It had a bit of everything,” Andrews told BBC Match of the Day. “The neutrals will be very pleased, but it’s far too much drama for my liking.”

Nonetheless, the gritty victory has Brentford sitting seventh in the table, trailing fifth-placed Liverpool by five points.

With only 10 games left of their season, it means Brentford are closer than ever to playing in Europe for the first time.

“Definitely they can start dreaming about European football,” former England women’s captain Steph Houghton told BBC Football Focus.

“They believe in who they are and there is a real humility about them.”

Former Arsenal and England defender Martin Keown said: “It’s the next step. Five points away from the top five is amazing. Who would have predicted that?”

Many pundits and supporters questioned Andrews’ appointment when he was thrust into the hot seat following Thomas Frank’s exit for Tottenham last summer.

Appointing the club’s set-piece coach to succeed Frank, who guided Brentford into the Premier League during his seven-year tenure, would not have looked a very reassuring move.

And many tipped Brentford as relegation candidates, let alone replicate their 10th-placed finish from 2024-25, following the departures of captain Christian Norgaard, star winger Bryan Mbeumo and the prolific Yoane Wissa.

But eight months on, Andrews is proving his detractors completely wrong.

“Andrews has been fantastic,” former England goalkeeper Rob Green told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He’s really taken that team and put his own twist on it without it being too drastic. He has managed everything around him very well.”

Damsgaard, who scored twice against Burnley, said: “He is a really good guy, first of all.

“We learn so much from him and he cares so much for this team. He’s the perfect fit.

“We have improved so much this season. It’s been a pleasure working with him and this group in general.

“It says a lot about the way Brentford do things with him signing a long-term deal. He is why we as a club have been doing so well.”

Andrews has built on Frank’s work to maximise the quality of the squad, with 18-goal striker Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade and Dango Ouattara stepping up in attack.

The result? Andrews has won 17 of his 34 games as manager, with 13 coming in the league.

Brentford have been impressive on the road, where they have won five of their past six league fixtures – and three in the row for the first time since March 2025.

Brentford made their Premier League debut in 2021-22 and have not played European football in their 134-year history.

But with England leading the Uefa coefficient table, finishing seventh could be enough for Brentford to claim Conference League football next season.

“We’re taking it one game at a time, but hopefully we can dream a little bit,” Damsgaard said.

Andrews said: “I haven’t looked at the table. We just keep pushing and we’ve got another tough one on Tuesday against Bournemouth.”

Ruby: It’s crazy that we thought that with Frank we reached our ceiling, but this season Andrews has taken us above and beyond anything we could have dreamed of when we arrived in the Premier League. Absolutely amazing job.

Gavin: Andrews’ success has not gone unnoticed elsewhere. He has been exceptional, seemingly learning from his mistakes and hopefully taking the club to new heights. Congratulations, you’ve earned your stripes.

Graham: Love Andrews. He’s done everything right and has a fantastically down-to-earth and relentless spirit. That said, the success is much more to do with the club than any one person.

Keith: It’s been a fantastic first two-thirds of the season and Andrews has to take a lot of responsibility for that. I would have waited until the end of the season to give him a new contract.

The last time Liverpool had scored five goals in a Premier League game, the sun was out as they clinched the title with a 5-1 win over Tottenham in April 2025.

The conditions were similar on Saturday when they put five past West Ham and, after a largely turbulent season so far, the reality is that the Reds are heading into March with a spring in their step.

Arne Slot’s side were far from wholly convincing against a relegation-battling West Ham, but the raw numbers show a team heading in the right direction as they now sit fifth in the Premier League, just three points off third.

“I could feel the nervousness inside the stadium,” Slot said, after a strange game where Liverpool were clinical if not always in control.

But they have won four of five Premier League games in a short space of time now, which is as many wins as they managed in their previous 13 (D6 L3). Things are certainly improving for a side trying to salvage their season.

Already, Slot has admitted that it would not be an acceptable season if the reigning champions did not qualify for the Champions League, and in recent weeks Liverpool have made it their business to at least move towards that minimum objective.

Earlier this campaign, failure to get there was looking a distinct possibility after a string of poor results, a falling-out with talisman Mohamed Salah and an injury to record signing Alexander Isak.

Liverpool have now restored their know-how when it comes to winning football matches – be that through late winners, gutsy displays on the road or simply improving their output from set-pieces.

Since the turn of the year, Liverpool have scored more goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) than any other side in the league.

Seven of Liverpool’s most recent nine Premier League goals have come from set-pieces (5 x corner, 1 x direct free-kick, 1 x throw-in), one more than in their first 38 goals of the season. All three of Liverpool’s goals in the first half against West Ham came from corners.

“It’s very pleasing because firstly that is the reason we have won,” said Slot.

“Second of all, people said well played, and in my opinion we have been better when we lost and better when we conceded from set-pieces.

“The first half of the season, almost every set-piece we conceded went in. Now we start scoring from set-pieces and things start looking brighter and better than when you don’t.”

At the end of 2025, former set-piece coach Aaron Briggs left the club. The existing coaching staff at Anfield have absorbed his duties.

When asked what had changed about his team, Slot said: “Things went back to normal.

“We have created quite a lot of chances in the first half of the season that too many times did not go in. Maybe one or two small details have changed defensively and offensively.

There is a school of thought among some fans that a good season is one where your team still has plenty to play for come April.

Liverpool will not be winning back-to-back Premier League titles, but they will head into March still in the FA Cup and the Champions League and now in a strong position to finish in the top five, which would effectively confirm Champions League football next season.

At the end of a week in which the club confirmed record revenues of over £700m for the last accounting year, with a profit after tax of £8m, the importance of that European spot cannot be underestimated.

Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who scored Liverpool’s third goal, told Match of the Day: “The last four or five months is when teams show what they can do.

“That’s what we want. We know how important it is to qualify for the Champions League for the club and us as a team. The goal is there and we are going to do everything to qualify and be closer to the teams on top.”

Team-mate Cody Gakpo took a similar view, telling Sky Sports: “It was a good afternoon. Step by step, we’re getting [to be] a better team.

“We had a difficult moment during the season, but hopefully these last few games are the start of something beautiful.”

With consecutive games against Wolves in the league and FA Cup next week, before a trip to Galatasaray in the Champions League, the next 10 days or so will go a long way to shaping how their season ultimately is remembered.

For a few seconds, Burnley fans were celebrating what looked like being one of the Premier League’s greatest ever comebacks – and new hope of a miraculous survival.

Zian Flemming had just poked the Clarets into a 78th-minute 4-3 lead, having trailed Brentford 3-0 in the first half, and looked set to become just the sixth Premier League team to have recovered from 3-0 down to win.

That was until Jaidon Anthony, who crossed for Flemming to score, had his shoulder ruled offside in the build-up by the video assistant referee (VAR).

To add to Burnley’s woes – after the visitors had retaken the lead – Scott Parker’s side thought they had earned a stoppage-time point only for Ashley Barnes to have an equaliser ruled out for a debatable handball after a five-minute VAR review.

Alan Shearer, who is a pundit on BBC’s Match of the Day on Saturday, said the handball law is not “fit for purpose” and “isn’t fair” on the fans.

This loss, described by manager Parker as “heartbreaking”, leaves Burnley eight points from safety.

Burnley’s first heartbreak came in the 78th minute when Flemming thought he had bundled them into a 4-3 lead, but the offside flag quickly followed.

Anthony, scorer of Burnley’s second goal, was offside by the width of his shoulder, something he described as “disappointing”.

“I’ve seen the one where I’m offside. It’s my shoulder, I think,” Anthony said.

“I’m sure if I scored with that part of my body, it wouldn’t have been a goal. It’s disappointing.”

Parker was philosophical when talking about the “fine margins of technology”.

He said: “It was heartbreaking for us, really, because we deserved that.

“VAR and the fine margins of technology to the inch of a sleeve, calling something offside is the game of football we live in now. So we accept that. That’s the way it is.”

But could this rule soon change?

Fast forward to the 99th minute and with Burnley now trailing 4-3, Turf Moor was sent into raptures as Barnes thought he had equalised with the final kick of the game.

Fans were left waiting for five minutes as VAR attempted to determine whether the ball struck the arm of Barnes in the build-up to his goal.

The VAR decision of ‘accidental handball’ led to Shearer describing the rule as “messed up in every single way”.

“I just hate the handball rule. Whether it’s today’s decision at Burnley or any of the other controversial ones this season, they have messed it up.

“Now, they’ll say that things are better in the Premier League than they are abroad, but that doesn’t wash with me.

“It is so messed up in every single way, there is ‘deliberate’, ‘proximity’, ‘natural’, ‘unnatural’ – there are so many different ways they have to interpret things and it isn’t fit for purpose.

“For fans to be sat in the stadium and waiting for three, four minutes, or for however long it took today at Turf Moor, it doesn’t seem right and it isn’t fair.”

Despite tasting defeat, Parker was restrained in his response to the decision.

“Maybe a little bit of injustice. I’ve not watched it back. I saw it on the big screen and I was thinking it looks like his hand is beside his side,” he said.

“I don’t want to say too much because no doubt I’m going to get quoted and I might be wrong. It looks so, so harsh.

“In the modern day, we want perfection. Of course, there are elements of it that make it what it is. I’ve not seen it back, but offside is offside and if it’s handball, it’s handball.”

Former Premier League official Darren Cann said despite Barnes’ handball being accidental, it was “correctly disallowed”.

“The handball law states that if a player scores in the opponents’ goal immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental, then it’s a handball offence,” he said.

“Barnes’ handball was accidental, but was correctly disallowed under the current law.

Bottom side Wolves are all but relegated after picking up just 13 points from 29 games and Burnley are only six points ahead of them in 18th.

Nineteen points at this stage of the season for Burnley means survival is incredibly unlikely, but three points against the Bees after mounting an unbelievable comeback would have put the question out there.

Could Burnley pull off a great escape?

It is looking unlikely. Defeat means Burnley sit eight points from safety, having played a game more than Nottingham Forest.

Betfred Super League

Catalans Dragons (0) 4

Try: Staines

St Helens (6) 36

Daryl Clark marked his 350th Super League appearance with two tries in St Helens’ thumping victory at Catalans Dragons.

Clark’s 11th-minute finish at the end of a flowing and well-worked team move was the difference as the visitors led 6-0 at the break.

Jacob Host and Shane Wright both went over before Clark grabbed his second try of the night in Perpignan.

In a hectic start, Staines pulled off an early try-saving tackle of Tristan Sailor out wide before being crowded out at the other end as he chased down a dangerous kick.

Both chances came in quick succession and just before Clark opened the scoring, Wright punching through the Dragons’ defence to send the England international over.

Saints’ early-season trip to France reunited them with Lewis Dodd for the first time since he made his Super League return with Catalans after a one-year stint in Australia’s NRL with South Sydney.

He went close to grabbing a memorable try against the club with whom he won three Super League titles, a Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge, but fumbled the ball in a tackle just short of the line after a darting run.

Host then linked up with Clark to bulldoze over at the other end to add to the visitors’ advantage soon after, and Wright went over again for Saints on the hour mark by spinning out of the clutches of three attempted tacklers to touch down.

Clark pounced out of dummy half and went over from close range to help make it 24-0 with 15 minutes left and, while Staines linked up with Josh Simm on the left edge to get a try back for the stunned home side, it quickly got worse for Catalans.

Catalans Dragons: Staines; Makinson, Cotric, Faataape, Simm; Sexton, Dodd; Allen, Da Costa, Chan, Laguerre, Lipowicz, Garcia.

Replacements: Faasuamaleaui, Wilson, Leeming, Lis.

St Helens: McDonald; Feldt, Robertson, Cross, Murphy; Sailor, Hastings; Walmsley, Clark, Klemmer, Sironen, Wright, Shorrocks.

Replacements: Host, Delaney, Whitley, Whitby.

Seventy-four seconds.

That was all resilient Everton needed to retake the lead and land a knockout blow as substitute Thierno Barry scored a late winner against Newcastle United at St James’ Park.

It felt like deja vu for Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, given the manner of his side’s 3-2 loss against Brentford at this stadium only a few weeks ago.

“I have a similar feeling,” he said after Saturday’s Premier League defeat by the same scoreline.

Howe admitted this month that he was not doing his job “well enough” as he embarked on a period of soul-searching.

His players rallied – eager to show they were “fighting for the manager” after the Brentford reverse – and Newcastle won four of their next five matches in all competitions.

But this defeat felt like a huge step backwards, and Newcastle are languishing in 12th place in the top flight for a reason.

“In relation to the Premier League, our form has not been good enough for a while,” Howe said.

“We know that. We take responsibility for that. It’s been really frustrating for us – and that’s the perils of Europe, I’m afraid.

Newcastle still have plenty to look forward to, not least a mouth-watering last-16 tie against Barcelona in the Champions League.

But this was a huge match in its own right.

Newcastle are simply running out of fixtures to finally kick-start their Premier League season once and for all.

After giving a number of key players some form of a rest in the 3-2 win against Qarabag on Tuesday, Howe made six changes to freshen up his side.

But too many square pegs were plugged into round holes as Joelinton started on the left, forward Nick Woltemade was fielded in midfield and winger Anthony Gordon led the line.

There was a lethargy to Newcastle and you do not have to look too far to realise where the issues are for this leaky side.

It was bad enough that Newcastle conceded an opener from a corner kick or that Nick Pope spilled Dwight McNeil’s swerving shot to enable Beto to put away the rebound for Everton’s second.

But Newcastle’s slack defending for Everton’s third was particularly costly after Jacob Murphy made it 2-2.

Rather than fearing a grandstand finish, David Moyes’ team clearly sensed there was still time for one final twist against a side with such defensive vulnerabilities.

Sure enough, Gordon was dispossessed far too easily by Iliman Ndiaye in the build-up to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall picking out Barry at the back post.

“We probably never gave Newcastle a chance to enjoy their moment and get themselves back into the game,” Moyes said.

To think Newcastle kept five clean sheets in their opening seven league fixtures.

In fact, it was at the other end of the pitch where Newcastle had issues at the start of the campaign as they began life without Alexander Isak, who went on strike in an effort to force through a £125m move to Liverpool.

By contrast, Newcastle are now carrying a threat – Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had to make a superb save to keep out Sandro Tonali’s volley late on – but they look capable of “self-imploding”, as Howe recognised.

Newcastle have let in a whopping 23 goals since they kept their most recent clean sheet in a 3-0 win against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League last month.

Newcastle will certainly have to tighten up, given the calibre of opposition they are due to face in the coming weeks.

“There’s always a time and place for stern words and now we take a breather,” Murphy said. “Let’s all reflect, look back.

“First and foremost, we know where mistakes happened and we’ve got to go forward and try and iron them out.

“We can’t get hyper-emotional every time something doesn’t go our way. It will just cause panic and that’s something we try to stay away from.”

Newcastle have lost three home league games in a row for the first time since Howe took charge of a relegation-threatened side in 2021.

However, in a strange way, the visit of Manchester United on Wednesday is just the kind of game that could trigger a response.

The players certainly need no added motivation to get up for such occasions under the lights.

The same can be said for home fixtures against Manchester City and Barcelona in the FA Cup and Champions League respectively in March.

But you never quite know what you are going to get from this side – and therein lies the problem.

“We can raise our game when we need to,” Howe said. “I don’t think that’s a sign of a top team, though.

“We have to be at that level all the time. The Premier League is so tough. The games are so difficult regardless of who you play or where you play.