Brentford

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Monday night's important win at the London Stadium was our seventh Premier League victory over West Ham in nine meetings - and certainly the most comprehensive.

The Bees produced our best away performance of the season and should have won by more.

Our 15 first-half shots was our joint highest in our four-and-a-bit years in the Premier League and our 22 in total in the match our best this campaign.

It was also our first away league win this season and pushes us closer to halfway in the table.

Everyone played well, with midfielders Yehor Yarmoliuk and Jordan Henderson particularly outstanding.

We were solid at the back and the front three linked up well together. The number of crosses we delivered into the area was incredible - it was just a pity we only converted one of them.

West Ham were poor - but that takes nothing away from the Bees' performance. Despite that, even an off-form team can score, so I found the last half-hour more nervy than enjoyable as I could see an undeserved equaliser coming.

As Brentford fans, we have seen this happen too many times over the years!

Luckily the Hammers never looked likely to ruin our night, but my nerves were only calmed when Mathias Jensen - for the second time in three games - blasted in a last-gasp goal to seal the win only minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Next up are out-of-form Liverpool - another game on a Saturday night, which I still feel is a terrible time to have a match.

They have a Champions League fixture at Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday, which could be their fifth successive defeat.

Teams have often ended losing runs against us, but if we are brave and take the momentum from this result, who knows what could happen.

Find more from Ian Westbrook at Beesotted podcast, external

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist

Brentford took full advantage of a passive display by West Ham to produce one of their most dominant away performances in the Premier League.

They had 42 touches in the opposition box and registered 22 shots, with both figures their highest in a top-flight game on the road since promotion in 2021.

Several of the visitors' other key metrics, including expected goals, also ranked amongst their best as the Bees produced what head coach Keith Andrews called their "most complete performance of the season".

The concern for Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo will be just how one-sided the game was – and why his side weren't more competitive.

We asked for your thoughts after Monday's Premier League match between West Ham United and Brentford.

Here are some of your comments:

West Ham fans:

Blake: Absolutely shocking performance from West ham. Absolutely no urgency anywhere on the pitch and everyone looked tired. Need to have a big look at ourselves and try again.

Jade: That's one of the worst performances I've seen from us in years (and I've seen some stinkers). What exactly was Nuno's plan tonight? No striker, full-backs playing on the wrong sides, a midfield with no presence - looked like 11 strangers out there. No cohesion, identity or fight - utterly toothless.

Roger: Expected so much more passion on the pitch for the new gaffer's first home game. Time for some radical action. 17-year-old Airidas Golambeckis is our best young player since Rice.

Robbie: Poor West Ham team, not a one off, major problems ahead.

Brentford fans:

Mike: Andrews quietly silencing the doubters. Young coach learning game by game, will be there for many years I feel. Well don't Bees.

Lee: Brentford looked much fitter than West Ham. The Hammers looked very lethargic.

Drew: Only consolation for West Ham United tonight was the scoreline. Brentford should've been in double figures. Worst performance by a Premier League team I've seen in years. Brentford's Thiago looks some player. Brentford will be OK with the quality they've got throughout the squad.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews speaking to BBC Sport after the 2-0 win at West Ham: "Very content. The performance was excellent on a lot of fronts - the chemistry, the conviction. It was a very good performance. A lot of individuals taking the next steps.

"What we've seen from Igor Thiago is that he will score goals. He's a handful. He's a personality.

"Jordan [Henderson] is imperative. We have a young squad. He's brought in his experience."

On if this was their best performance of the season so far: "Yes I think so. We've shown parts in games and got good results, but performance-wise this is the most complete."

Did you know?

• Brentford remain one of only two sides, along with Liverpool, to have scored in every Premier League away game in 2025, last failing to do so against Brighton in December 2024.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford started the day 16th in the table but jumped up to 13th as boss Keith Andrews celebrated his first away Premier League victory as a manager.

He would surely have been surprised by just how easy it was against struggling West Ham, as the visitors to London Stadium had 58% of possession.

Andrews' side were better in every department and just about every statistic. Their 15 shots in the first half alone was their joint highest ever in the Premier League, while the overall total of 22 shots in the match was their highest in this campaign, as was the 451 attempted passes.

With England midfielder Jordan Henderson superb in central midfield, Brentford were outstanding throughout. They were also a constant threat from corners and Michael Kayode's impressive long throws.

Igor Thiago scored just before half-time, but so many other chances were not converted: Nathan Collins headed over, Thiago volleyed against the top of the crossbar, Mikkel Damsgaard had a header saved by Areola, Dango Ouattara twice missed with headers, Kevin Schade headed against the bar and Keane Lewis-Potter curled a shot wide.

Substitute Mathias Jensen's late goal gave the scoreline a closer resemblance to the domination Brentford had enjoyed.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on West Ham's performance

What did you make of Brentford's display?

Come back on Tuesday for a selection of your replies

Nuno Espirito Santo makes five changes to the West Ham starting line-up in his first home game in charge of the Hammers.

In come 19-year-old full-back Ollie Scarles, Jean-Clair Todibo, Kyle Walker-Peters, Tomas Soucek (back after a three-game ban) and Andy Irving.

West Ham XI: Areola, Scarles, Kilman, Todibo, Walker-Peters, Soucek, Irving, Summerville, Fernandes, Paqueta, Bowen.

Just the one change from Brentford boss Keith Andrews to the 11 that began the 1-0 loss to Manchester City on 5 October as Dango Ouattara is in and Aaron Hickey misses out.

Brentford XI: Kelleher, Yarmoliuk, Van Den Berg, Collins, Ajer, Kayode, Damsgaard, Henderson, Ouattara, Thiago, Schade.

West Ham have lost three out of three at home - the same as Brentford have done away - so something has got to give here.

This could be 0-0 on the basis that both teams will just sit in their own half - I don't think either team will want the ball and both managers prefer to play on the counter-attack.

Nuno Espirito Santo has been brought in to keep the Hammers up, so he is not going to change the style of play that has brought him success.

I am not sure how that will go down with the West Ham fans - recent history suggests they are not going to like it, but they are going to have to get used to it.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews also likes to park the bus, so I don't see there being many chances at either end, or much ambition to score.

I can feel myself edging towards another 0-0 prediction but instead I am going to be optimistic and say there will be a goal... and a first West Ham win for Nuno.

He has already beaten Brentford once, as Forest manager on the opening weekend of the season, so this would be a very welcome double for him.

Sutton's prediction: 1-0

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist

West Ham play their first home game under Nuno Espirito Santo, taking on a Brentford side who have only lost one of their eight Premier League matches against the Hammers. BBC Sport examines some of the key themes before Monday's fixture.

The Hammers' new head coach has plenty on his plate after succeeding Graham Potter but improving the team's dismal home form must be the immediate priority. West Ham have lost all three of their games at London Stadium this term, with disenchanted fans streaming out early during heavy defeats against Chelsea and Tottenham and a similarly toxic atmosphere in the recent reverse to Crystal Palace.

Some supporters protested against the board before the loss to Palace and a boycott is also planned for this match, although campaign organisers have stressed their actions are not aimed at Nuno or his players.

The Hammers have the worst defensive record in the top flight before this latest round of fixtures so it would be no surprise to see a change of system against the Bees. Nuno reportedly fielded a back three during a behind-closed-doors friendly against Championship side Ipswich during the international break, and a new system could perhaps provide his side with a more solid structure.

However the Hammers line up, supporters will expect to see the team make amends for their woeful recent record in derby matches. They have lost all four of their Premier League London derbies this season, conceding a total of 12 goals, and are at risk of losing five such fixtures in a row for the first time since 2010.

Brentford are Hammers' bogey side

Brentford have lost all three of their away league games under Keith Andrews but will take encouragement from their impressive record against West Ham. They have won six of eight Premier League meetings, more victories than against any other opponent, including a 1-0 win at the London Stadium in February.

Andrews' team were beaten by Manchester City last time out, though they once again caused problems with long throw-ins. Brentford have delivered 34 throws into box in the league this season, more than any other side, and could have some success with that ploy against a West Ham side that have already conceded eight times from corners.

While set-pieces have been a crucial part of Brentford's success since promotion in 2021, the Bees may have to lean on them even more under Andrews, who was their set-piece coach until taking over as head coach in June.

Under the Irishman, Brentford are playing fewer passes, taking fewer shots and having fewer touches in the opposition box per game than in any of their previous Premier League campaigns.

Brentford boss Keith Andrews has been speaking to the media before Monday's Premier League game against West Ham at London Stadium (kick-off 20:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Andrews confirmed Aaron Hickey is "back on the grass" after his knock on international duty, while Reiss Nelson and Gustavo Nunes both featured for the under-21s and are available for selection.

• The Brentford boss also spoke about Antoni Milambo after the news he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury: "He's obviously very down. It's devastating for him, first and foremost. He's at a new club, settling into a new country as a very young player that we have high, high hopes for. Suffering an injury of that level is obviously very disappointing, but the one thing he knows is that he will get a lot of support here and time to heal."

• He added: "To go through that process is the worst part of being a footballer - not being able to do what you love, mates going out and training and you can't. Antoni's got a long road back to getting back on the pitch, but he will get so much support from everyone here at Brentford."

• On defender Michael Kayode being an unsung hero in the team: "I like a lot about him. His desire to be as good as he can be is up there with best I have come across. He is a joy to be around in personality. Factor in coming from a different country and he has settled really well last season. This season he has kicked on. He is a defender who likes to defend."

• He confirmed Michael Antonio had been training at the club for a week to 10 days but "picked up a little knock and has been in and out".

• On his assessment of their attack so far this season: "A little bit of adapting. We have tweaked the system and formation. Some attacking players have had to be unselfish, really putting the team before themselves. You have seen glimpses, in connections and relations. We have really talented players at the top end of the pitch. The longer they are together, building those relationships, the better they will be. We have seen how devastating they can be in glimpses."

• On where the side can improve still: "Every facet of the game we can improve on. How connected we are as a team without the ball, how we press, communication, a lot of relationships - I speak about that a lot. It is a new team. It just takes a bit of time. Whatever facet it is, I know we can, and will, improve. But because of the nature of the business we want it to be sooner rather than later."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

Looking at Premier League teams' attacks specifically in the graphic below, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have taken by far the most shots, averaging about 15 per game.

But the reason why Manchester City and Crystal Palace have the best attacks overall is because they are creating much better chances, averaging about 0.14 xG per shot.

What that means is that historically Premier League sides have converted the chances City and Palace are creating at a rate of 14%, compared to 10% of the shots that United, Arsenal and Liverpool are.

Brentford are a strange side because while they are averaging just eight shots per game, the quality of those chances has been so high that their attack still ranks mid-table overall.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League table is starting to take shape and while results are obviously what matter most, they don't tell the whole story in terms of how teams have been playing so far.

Expected goals (xG) tells us how much teams have been dominating games by creating lots of good chances up front and restricting opponents to few, bad ones at the back.

Penalties are excluded because they distort a team's numbers on how threatening or vulnerable they are in general, especially at this early stage.

Below is a graphic showing how good teams have been in attack and defence, with the most dominant teams in the top-right corner and the least impressive in the bottom-left corner.

Arsenal and Manchester City have been the most dominant sides, with the Gunners having the best defence and fourth-best attack and City the joint-best attack and fourth-best defence.

High-flying Crystal Palace are the only side to rival City's attacking threat, while Newcastle are living up to their name by being almost as impregnable at the back as Arsenal.

Both Manchester United and Chelsea have one of the top five attacks in the league but worryingly also rank in the bottom five defensively.

• Find and follow your Premier League club on BBC Sport

Liverpool's back-to-back defeats following five straight wins gives a more accurate picture of how they have been playing, while Tottenham have needed to be very efficient to make up for their lack of dominance in games.

Aston Villa's early-season struggles are no longer to do with finishing - they have now scored six non-penalty goals from an xG of 6.0 - but simply because they have not been playing well.

While promoted sides Leeds and Sunderland have adapted quite well to the top-flight, Burnley have struggled to make the jump so far with both the worst attack and the worst defence.

Read more on what expected goals tell us about the start to the season

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford midfielder Antoni Milambo has sustained a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury while on international duty with Netherlands Under-21s.

The club has said the 20-year-old, who was signed from Eredivisie club Feyenoord this summer, will have surgery and "be in rehabilitation for the remainder of the season".

Milambo was slowly being integrated into Keith Andrews' first team, having made three appearances for the Bees, including starts in Carabao Cup wins over Bournemouth and Aston Villa.

The Dutchman made 42 appearances for Feyenoord last season, scoring seven goals and contributing eight assists.

Phil McNulty
Chief football writer

Image source, Getty Images

Jordan Henderson has a huge admirer in Thomas Tuchel. He was an instant inclusion for his first squad in March, winning a recall after being absent from England duty since November 2023.

It was a pick that raised eyebrows but Tuchel was unmoved, continuing to keep faith with Brentford's veteran midfielder, even to the exclusion of Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton, saying: "He embodies everything we are trying to build."

No one could ever question the desire and attitude of one of the game's most consummate professionals, but Henderson will be 36 during next summer's World Cup, which will be played in gruelling conditions in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Tuchel has praised Henderson's influence around camp, and his impact can already be seen at Brentford, but he will need to be seen as someone who will figure on the pitch as well. There is no room for non-playing figureheads at a major tournament.

Plenty question Tuchel's wisdom on this decision. It remains to be seen how much longer he will include Henderson, so the former Liverpool captain must produce high-class performances with Brentford consistently to stop eyebrows being raised further.

Read the full list of players with a point to prove here

Ian Westbrook
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

International breaks often drag on when your club is not playing - and this one is even longer for Brentford fans given that we are the last game of the next Premier League weekend.

The match at West Ham on Monday night is already shaping up to be a potential six-pointer.

Not only will it be Nuno Espirito Santo's first home match in charge of the Hammers, but it is very likely we will have joined them in the bottom three by kick-off - given that we are playing after everyone else.

That will be a big psychological thing for Keith Andrews to overcome, as it will be our first time in the relegation zone in our time in the Premier League.

It means less because of the timing of our fixture, but if we lose to West Ham it could start to become an issue, with Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Newcastle to follow before the next round of internationals.

Up until now, Andrews' squad has been largely injury-free - a welcome change from previous seasons.

However, this could be about to change.

Aaron Hickey, who made his first Premier League start in 700 days against Manchester United at the end of September, was forced off injured during Scotland's win over Greece last week and missed Sunday's win over Belarus as a result.

And Anthony Milambo was stretchered off during Netherlands Under-21s' match with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A new injury crisis is the last thing we need, which is why it was good to find Yehor Yarmoliuk in the Ukraine squad for Monday's match with Azerbaijan after he limped off against Manchester City.

It was also pleasing to see Mikkel Damsgaard on target for Denmark against Greece - we need him to have his goalscoring boots on for us over the next month.

Find more from Ian Westbrook at Beesotted podcast, external

In a special episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, Steve Crossman sits down with Brentford's Fabio Carvalho and club psychologist Michael Caulfield to discuss how the club's culture of talking openly has helped their players.

Caulfield installed a bench at the training ground, dubbed Michael's bench, where players can discuss what is on their mind and share.

It has been such a success that the club have installed three more benches at the training ground for their academy teams and are now putting up more benches around the local community, to encourage people to talk to help with their mental health.

In an honest interview, Carvalho discusses the difficulties he faced as a young man moving from Portugal, how faith and removing himself from social media has helped him and how he thinks modern footballers could benefit from having deeper conversations and sharing their struggles.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

Brentford defender Aaron Hickey is an injury doubt for Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Belarus on Sunday after coming off in the side's 3-1 win over Greece on Thursday.

The 23-year-old was substituted in the 58th minute at Hampden Park with what boss Steve Clarke described as a "small injury".

"He's just tweaked his knee," Clarke added.

"Aaron was actually a doubt to start the game after picking up a small knock to his knee and I think he's just aggravated it.

"I don't know for sure yet, but that was the reason I called Max [Johnston] into the squad as cover."

Bees fans will be hoping the issue is not too serious, with Hickey having only recently returned to full fitness this season after a two-year struggle with a recurring hamstring injury.

Image source, Brentford FC

Fabio Carvalho has lent his support to Brentford's mental health bench campaign, an initiative started by the club's sports psychologist Michael Caulfield when he bought an outdoor bench for the club's new training ground.

Caulfield soon realised the bench was encouraging players to engage with their mental health, so he started to sit on the bench a few days a week during training and gave the players the option to join him.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live for a Football Daily podcast special, attacking midfielder Carvalho said football can be "a bit cutthroat" so "being able to talk about what you're going through on and off the pitch is a blessing".

After success within the training ground, Brentford have recently installed another mental health bench in Robin Grove Park and plan to put several more in the local community moving forward.

The benches will have mental health charity phone numbers and a QR code that links to mental health support services on them.

"I can speak to Michael [Caulfield] about anything and everything," Carvalho said. "What makes it most special is that it doesn't have to be about football. You can speak about anything without being judged.

"I don't feel like men, in general, express their feelings enough. It's good to be able to talk and share that burden, plus being able to speak to someone who doesn't wear a kit or have a badge with initials on goes a long way.

"As footballers, I don't think we have enough meaningful and deep conversations. We just say: 'How are you? I'm good.' But are we actually good?"

The full episode of this special Football Daily podcast will be out on Monday