Christian Eriksen completed his emotional return to football as he made his Brentford debut as a second-half substitute against Newcastle – but the visitors took the Premier League points with a 2-0 win.
The former Tottenham and Inter Milan midfielder received a huge ovation as he came off the bench in the 52nd minute, 259 days after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Denmark's Euro 2020 match against Finland.
The 30-year-old was unable to prevent Brentford being dragged further into the relegation battle following a 2-0 defeat.
But the very fact Eriksen, who revealed he had "died for five minutes" at the Parken Stadion, stepped on the pitch at all was reason enough to celebrate.
Eriksen, who joined Brentford as a free agent in January, is the first Premier League footballer to play fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator.
There was a remarkable symmetry in the fact he came on as a substitute for Mathias Jensen, the Denmark team-mate who replaced Eriksen when he left the field stricken on that harrowing day in June last year.
Eriksen was quick to get involved with his usual neat touches and the occasional incisive pass, but unfortunately the situation into which he was introduced was never likely to produce a fairytale.
The Bees were already trailing 2-0 and down to 10 men when Thomas Frank sent on the man he described as "potentially the greatest ever signing for the club".
Joelinton opened the scoring while Joe Willock made it two goals in two games for Newcastle when he applied the finish to a bizarre goal which began with an overhit Jensen corner and ended with the Brentford midfielder as the last man as Fabian Schar raced forward, before feeding Willock to slot home.
Brighton 0-2 Aston Villa
Matty Cash sent a message of support to a Poland team-mate stranded in Ukraine after scoring the opening goal in Aston Villa's 2-0 win at Brighton.
The Villa full-back broke the deadlock with a fine early finish before taking off his shirt to reveal a "stay strong" message to Dynamo Kiev defender Tomasz Kedziora, receiving a caution in the process.
Ollie Watkins then scored his first goal since December in the 68th minute to wrap up Villa’s victory.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Burnley
Draw specialists Crystal Palace and Burnley could not be separated after Luka Milivojevic’s own goal cancelled out an early opener from Jeffrey Schlupp for the hosts at Selhurst Park.
The 1-1 draw made it 12 apiece for the two sides in the Premier League this season and despite a third game unbeaten, Sean Dyche’s visitors stay in the relegation zone.
Palace, who saw captain Milivojevic slide into his own net after 40 seconds of the second half, remain 11th but with a nine-point advantage over their 18th-placed opponents following a predictable draw.
