Norwich City extended their lead at the top of the Championship table to 10 points after beating second-placed Brentford at Carrow Road.

Star man Emi Buendia scored the game's only goal in the first half with an excellent low strike past David Raya.

Daniel Farke's men have now won six consecutive games and are on course for an immediate return to the Premier League.

The Bees will look to bounce back on Saturday when they host struggling Rotherham United

  • Story of the match

Norwich named an unchanged side from Sunday's win at Wycombe Wanderers, while the visitors made two changes. Sergi Canos and Mathias Jensen came in for Tarique Fosu and the injured Josh Dasilva.

The Canaries had a chance inside two minutes when Buendia played a perfect pass to put Teemu Pukki through on goal, but his dinked attempt went wide.

Brentford’s first effort came in the ninth minute when Canos tried his luck from distance, forcing Tim Krul into a smart save.

Soon after, Bryan Mbeumo skilfully beat Dimitris Giannoulis and delivered a cross. Krul could only parry the ball to Canos, who fluffed his lines with the goal gaping.

Ivan Toney had the Bees’ next chance after being found by Jensen's long ball, but his shot lacked enough power to worry Krul. 

Norwich went ahead in the 26th minute when Canos lost possession cheaply. A quick counter-attack ended up at the feet of Buendia, who went past three Brentford players before finding the far corner from the edge of the box.

Mario Vrancic brought a comfortable save from Raya as they looked to double their lead and sent a wild strike well over the crossbar. 

Pukki should have scored on the stroke of half-time when Buendia played a majestic defence-splitting pass, but credit to Raya for staying big and making the save.

The first chance of the second half fell to Pukki, with the Finn cutting inside before unleashing a shot that was well saved by Raya.

Winston Reid was booked in the first half after fouling Vrancic and was fortunate to not see red for doing so again in the 64th minute. Buendia took the free-kick and found Ben Gibson, whose header was straight at Raya. 

Buendia and Pukki linked up well in the 69th minute to provide the latter with another chance, but he lashed his effort wide.

Onel Hernandez called Raya into action after being found by Buendia, but his feeble attempt from inside the box was comfortably saved.

Thomas Frank’s side saw plenty of the ball throughout the half but lacked a cutting edge. Substitute Mads Roerslev crossed for Toney with 10 minutes remaining, but he failed to guide his header goalwards.

Giannoulis fired high and wide from a difficult angle after a one-two with Lukas Rupp as the hosts continued to push for a second goal.

Toney had another half-chance late on but dragged his shot wide before Henrik Dalsgaard's header missed the target after Roerslev had crossed.

Brentford appealed for a penalty in the dying embers when Mbeumo went down after Grant Hanley’s challenge, but the referee was unmoved. 

Norwich held on despite a late scare and edge closer to a top-flight return.

  • Man of the match

Emi Buendia

He scored a beautiful goal worthy of winning the game and provided several opportunities for his team-mates to get on the scoresheet. With 10 goals and as many assists so far this season, the Argentine playmaker is likely to have plenty of admirers in the next transfer window.

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