Analysis: Why Damsgaard is one of the most creative players in the Premier League | OneFootball

Thomas Frank was in understandably effusive form after Brentford's 4-0 win over Leicester City last Friday - and he reserved special praise for his front four of Kevin Schade, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Mikkel Damsgaard.

First-half goals from Wissa, Mbeumo and Christian Nørgaard gave the Bees a three-goal cushion at the break, before Fabio Carvalho came off the bench late on to secure a fourth straight Premier League away win.

No team has strung together more consecutive wins on the road in the top flight this term and a scintillating showing from Brentford owed much to their creator-in-chief Damsgaard, who reached double figures for Premier League assists at King Power Stadium.

The Bees' free-scoring trio of Mbeumo-Wissa-Schade has now hit 34 Premier League goals this season - 72 per cent of the west Londoners' current total of 47 goals - and Damsgaard's quality and vision in the final third has played a huge part in that.

Wissa's opener against the Foxes on Friday was an excellent example of Damsgaard's creativity in microcosm.

Found by Schade five yards outside the hosts' box, Damsgaard's immaculate first touch evaded Boubakary Soumaré and his second dissected the Leicester backline for Wissa to snaffle his 12th goal of the season, with the DR Congo striker levelling his best-ever tally in a Premier League campaign in the process.

The perfectly scooped pass for Wissa (which Damsgaard admitted was intended for Schade!) marked another defence-splitting assist for Damsgaard in 2024/25 and the Dane currently tops the Premier League charts for assists from through-balls (four).

Damsgaard's second assist of the contest - and 10th of the season - was more straightforward: the attacking midfielder turned into acres of space midway in his opponent's half before feeding Mbeumo, who flashed a fantastic shot past Mads Hermansen in the Leicester goal.

Although he may have some way to go to catch former Bee Christian Eriksen (77) as the Danish player with the most assists in Premier League history, Damsgaard is presently one of the most creative players in the top flight and it is worth looking beyond his headline stats.

Lively and intelligent with the ball at his feet, Damsgaard has completed 36 successful dribbles this season (=16th in the top tier), and his fantastic distribution is further underlined by the fact he is eighth in the top flight for progressive passes with 163 and third for goal-creating actions (18) behind only Mohamed Salah and Bukayo Saka (21 apiece).

Damsgaard's sky-high output, in terms of end product, is made even more impressive by his appetite for the less glamorous side of the game.

The 24-year-old's high-energy pressing is clearly evidenced by the fact that he ranks second for tackles made in the attacking third with 18, and ranks first and second among Brentford players for passes blocked (25) and tackles won (58) respectively.

In his post-match comments, Damsgaard spoke of his desire to be "the best possible version of myself" and his delight at reaching the "amazing" milestone of 10 Premier League assists - he is certainly in the best form of his Brentford career to date.

With Damsgaard pulling the strings behind a trio of in-form forwards (and Igor Thiago to return), Brentford fans have every right to cast their eyes up the Premier League table - and back-to-back clean sheets suggest the Bees are in good shape at both ends of the pitch ahead of Everton's visit on Wednesday.