by Brentford striker Ivan Toney let his feet do the talking on Saturday with two goals against Premier League champions Manchester City.
The 26-year-old forward, who has scored 10 league goals this season, was left out of Gareth Southgate’s 26-man England squad on Thursday ahead of this winter’s World Cup in Qatar.
Newcastle striker Callum Wilson was placed ahead of Toney, but that certainly didn’t affect the in-form striker on Saturday afternoon.
Toney opened the scoring for Brentford in the 16th minute with a perfect header. He continued to celebrate by holding two fingers to his ears – a possible message to doubters.
Blocking out the noise!
It’s been a tough week for Ivan Toney missing out on an England call-up, but his first goal against City today must have felt good!#EPL pic.twitter.com/ShvEmvRF6N
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 12, 2022
But in the 97th minute, Toney cooly slotted past goalkeeper Ederson to complete his brace after Thomas Frank’s side exposed their opponents on the counter-attack.
A penny for Gareth Southgate’s thoughts?
TONEEEYYYY!!!!
Brentford expose Manchester City on the counter attack as Ivan Toney scores for a 2-1 lead with 2 minutes remaining!! 🤩#EPL pic.twitter.com/TS4ChhC6J9
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 12, 2022
Toney is currently the subject of a match-fixing investigation over historical allegations relating to a period before he joined Brentford, according to The Sun.
In a statement, the 26-year-old said he was “assisting the Football Association with its inquiries” but would not make any further comment until the investigation “comes to a conclusion”.
“I’m a proud Englishman and it’s always been my childhood dream to play for my country in a World Cup final,” he tweeted.
Gareth Southgate has continued to deny that Toni’s exclusion from this winter’s World Cup squad is related to the FA investigation.
“I didn’t have that conversation because he wasn’t in our team,” the 52-year-old told reporters on Thursday.
“For us, September was a good opportunity to have a look at Ivan on the training ground, to learn a bit more about him, to see how we work.
“We knew and we had discussed with him that it was a great opportunity to be involved at this time in a World Cup.
“We’ve watched all the players since then. We think Callum’s got that really rich form and he’s been with us a bit longer, he’s been on the pitch with us, we know him a bit better.”
