Brentford 3-1 Manchester United: Bruno Fernandes penalty saved as pressure mounts on Ruben Amorim

Bruno Fernandes had a penalty saved as Manchester United fell to a 3-1 defeat at Brentford to put the spotlight back on Ruben Amorim as his search for back-to-back league wins continues.

United were 2-1 down as Fernandes waited more than four minutes to take his second-half spot-kick which was eventually saved by Caoimhin Kelleher after VAR checked if Nathan Collins should have been sent off for denying Bryan Mbeumo a goalscoring opportunity.

Referee Craig Pawson's decision to book Collins was upheld, without him being sent to the monitor, despite the Brentford defender making no clear attempt to play the ball when pulling his former team-mate back by the shoulder.

United only have themselves to blame for the result, their third defeat in a four-game winless run at Brentford, that was sealed when Mathias Jensen struck a superb third goal in stoppage-time. All the momentum of the win over Chelsea had vanished.

Brentford were two goals up after 20 minutes thanks to Igor Thaigo's first-half double and, although Benjamin Sesko scored his first goal for the club to halve the deficit six minutes later, United were never convincing in their fight-back.

Fernandes' second failure from the spot-kick this season ultimately cost United, who are now winless in their last eight away league games and back in the bottom half as Brentford climb above them after a thoroughly deserved three points.

Amorim disagreed with the decision not to send off Collins but said his team should have done more to manage the game after Fernandes failed to convert his penalty.

"They told me Bryan was not in control of the ball. I think he was not in control of the ball because he was pulled," Amorim said in his post-match press conference.

He added: "Sometimes the decisions are not in your favour. We have the capacity to calm down the game. We didn't do that today."