Kristoffer Ajer scored a late goal as 10-man Brentford were beaten 2-1 by Burnley at Turf Moor.

Sergio Reguilón gave away a penalty and was sent off nine minutes into the game, after he was deemed to have pushed Vitinho in the back inside the penalty area to deny a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

Jacob Bruun Larsen converted the spot-kick, before David Datro Fofana doubled the home side's lead midway through the second half, as the Clarets punished their visitors with a clinical counter attack.

Ajer pulled one back for the west Londoners with a diving header, but Thomas Frank's side couldn't conjure a second goal late on.

Reguilón sees red and Burnley score resulting penalty

Frank made two changes to the side that narrowly lost to Arsenal last Saturday: Keane Lewis-Potter and the injured Christian Nørgaard made way for Sergio Reguilón and Mathias Jensen.

Burnley made just one change to the team that drew 2-2 at West Ham last Sunday, with goalkeeper James Trafford - who had played every minute of the Clarets’ Premier League campaign - replaced by Arijanet Muric between the sticks.

There was a big moment with less than 10 minutes on the clock, as the referee awarded the home side a penalty after a lengthy VAR check.

Vitinho managed to get the wrong side of Reguilón and looked in on goal when Josh Cullen played him in with a chipped pass. But a push in the back from Brentford's Spanish full-back saw his opposite number go to ground, which resulted in the referee going to the VAR monitor and subsequently giving a penalty.

Bruun Larsen stepped up and put the ball past Mark Flekken in the Bees goal, despite the keeper diving the right way.

The visitors were inches away from equalising on 25 minutes. With Jensen pressing, Dara O'Shea played a wayward back pass to his goalkeeper. At the other side of his six-yard box, Muric scrambled across his goal and managed to hook the ball off the line. Ivan Toney attempted to score the rebound, and Muric just about kept that out too.

The Clarets should have doubled their lead just before the interval. A run down the right from Lorenz Assignon saw him enter the penalty area and spot Fofana at the far post. Assignon drilled in a cross, which found Fofana in space and with the goal at his mercy, but the centre-forward couldn't react quickly enough and put it wide from five yards.

Wissa had a chance in additional time, as he was played in on goal by a really intelligent pass from Toney from a quick free-kick, but the forward couldn't manage to curl it around Muric, who made himself big and kept it out well.

With the end of the half seconds away, Fofana was wondering, for the second time, how he hadn't found the back of the net. Flekken didn't realise the Burnley man was behind him so, when he rolled the ball out, Fofana ran out of his blindspot and robbed him and looked destined to score. But a good recovery tackle from the Bees keeper put the ball out for a corner.

Ajer scores late header but Bees suffer defeat

Burnley started the second half with a lot of possession, with their attacks predominantly coming down the flanks. A fizzed cross from Bruun Larsen which just evaded Vitinho was their best attempt of the opening period of the half.

On 54 minutes, there were strong appeals for a penalty from the Brentford players after Zanka was bundled over in the box by Fofana following a Mathias Jensen corner, but the referee allowed play to continue.

The Bees continued to push for an equaliser and their best chance came through Keane Lewis-Potter. A great ball from Jensen into the path of the substitute left him with acres of space to drive into. As he bared down on goal, the chasing Vitinho caught up with him and blocked the shot, which led to a counter attack for the hosts.

And that counter led to the Clarets' second goal, as Odobert charged into the final third and played in Fofana. The striker made his way into the box and managed to poke the ball past Flekken and into the far corner to double Burnley's lead.

Bryan Mbeumo, returning from an ankle injury, came off the bench with 10 minutes to play.

And the forward nearly got an assist for Lewis-Potter, as he played a neat pass into his team-mate, but his shot was blocked for a corner.

From the resulting set-piece, the Bees pulled one back. A series of attempts saw the ball eventually find its way out to Shandon Baptiste, who whipped in a delicious cross and Ajer headed in off the post.

There were some late half-chances for the west Londoners, but not enough to produce an equaliser.

Burnley: Muric, Assignon, O'Shea, Estève, Taylor, Vitinho, Cullen, Berge, Odobert, Bruun Larsen (Amdouni 69; Brownhill 90+5), Fofana (Foster 88)

Subs not used: Trafford, Ekdal, Cork, Gudmundsson, Benson, Rodriguez

Brentford: Flekken, Zanka, Ajer, Collins, Roerslev (Lewis-Potter 59), Jensen (Maupay 79) Janelt (Baptiste 79), Onyeka (Yarmoliuk 59), Reguilón, Wissa (Mbeumo 79), Toney

Subs not used: Strakosha, Ji-soo, Ghoddos, Damsgaard

Frank 'proud' of Brentford performance after red card

Despite the defeat, head coach Thomas Frank was proud of his side's performance against Burnley, having been down to 10 men for most of the game at Turf Moor.

“I am, and I hope the fans are, incredibly proud of the players: their mentality, their effort, their character," he stated.

“We were playing 10 v 11 for nearly 100 minutes, and the way we stayed in the game, the way we fought, the work ethic was incredible, and I think we were very close to getting a point - and we maybe could or should have got a point in the end.

“I hope everyone can see that because this group of players never roll over - they will fight.” 

Zanka: We have to lick our wounds

Zanka said that Brentford must “reset and get ready for United” following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Burnley.

“The sending off made the game a bit more difficult than we’d hoped,” the centre-back admitted.

“Against any team in this league, it would be difficult to play a man down; having to do that for 90 plus minutes is difficult.

"I think we did what we could, we created chances, and on a luckier day one more goes in.

"There’s always something to take from a game. Right now, we have to lick our wounds because we came here to win and we didn’t. It’s on us to reset and get ready for [Manchester] United. We have to come out flying."