15 February 2025
West Ham 0 Brentford 1
West Ham welcomed Brentford to the London Stadium, with the Graham Potter era still waiting to take-off. The visitors had one of the worst away records in Europe in the first half of the season. However, times had changed since the turn of the year and Thomas Frank’s side were looking to make it three wins a row away from home.
Brentford seemed to really take to the big pitch at the London Stadium in the early stages. Their ‘pass and move’ game was a joy to watch as they played their way through West Ham. Mbuemo threaded it on to Schade in the box but the effort was sort of stopped by Areola’s legs. It was a bit of a ‘poppadom-hands’ save, as it only seemed to delay the inevitable, as it trickled towards the goal-line.
The keeper managed to recover to scoop it off the line, but straight into the path of Schade once again. As the striker drilled it goalwards, Areola leapt across the goal to make another block. It was unbelievable viewing. Sadly for the keeper, the referee then pointed towards the centre circle as his watch told him it had crossed the line.
It had taken the visitors a mere four minutes to break the deadlock in the capital. Unless West Ham did something about their defending, Brentford could have a field day against them. With the attacking threat of Schade, Wissa, Mbuemo and Damsgaard this could be a long afternoon for The Hammers’ faithful at their spiritual home.
Frank’s side looked dangerous whenever they came forward. A pass was drilled out to Mbuemo, who killed it dead with a sublime first-touch. He dribbled towards goal before unleashing a ferocious shot towards the near post but Areola made a good save to deny him. At this point, you felt another goal for the visitors would put this match beyond the hosts.
An insanely loose crossfield pass from Paqueta went straight to Mbuemo. He held it up slightly as Schade and Wissa caught up to support him. The winger unselfishly rolled it in front of the pair, with Areola on the floor committed, for Wissa to lift it into the back of the net. There was no time to celebrate though as it was immediately ruled out for offside.
West Ham came forward for the first time, late on in the half. Soler was bursting through the middle and then just fell to the floor for no apparent reason. The midfielder was claiming that he had his heels clipped but the referee was not interested at all. Brentford regained the ball and immediately turned defence into attack in an instant.
It was worked to Schade and he made a bee line towards goal. He unleashed a powerful left-footed effort but, despite having Areola beaten, it struck the base of the post and went wide. It was a big chance to put this game to bed for the visitors. With such a slender-lead, The Hammers were still well and truly in this game and able to provide the ultimate sucker-punch.
The Bees came forward once again, with some ‘pleasant on the eye’ one-touch passing, which saw the ball at Wissa’s feet in the box. He calmly stroked it past Areola to double the lead for the visitors. Sadly, they were to be denied by a VAR review that adjudged Ajer was in an offside position when the ball was played to him. Right decision but still hard for Frank’s side to take.
Nobody could doubt that Brentford had been better value for the three points. However, this is why we love the game so much, she doesn’t play that way. You can batter a side for 89 minutes but if you fail to take your chances, more often than not at this level, you will be punished with that against the run of play goal late on in the match.
Frank’s side needed to find that second goal to put the game to bed. However, a long ball forward by The Hammers was superbly held up by Bowen. He cradled it on his chest before using his strength to hold the defender off. He touched it into the path of Ferguson, who got to the byline, before putting it on a plate for Kudus to score.
The only baffling thing was to see him look to break the back of the net with his shot, only to see it clip the top of the crossbar and go over. It was one of the misses of the season. Unbelievable stuff. Maybe the footballing gods did not want to see Brentford come away with anything but a win, but this glaring opportunity would cost them you felt.
West Ham tried to take things up a gear in the closing stages of the game. Paqueta looked to use his skills to step past Janelt and went to ground. The referee awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box. Ward-Prowse rolled it into the path of Emerson, who unleashed a fierce shot that narrowly missed the far corner of the goal.
It was backs to the wall time for Brentford. Paqueta played a ball forward to Ferguson. The on-loan Brighton striker took one touch to get it under his spell before firing a shot off at goal. Flekken got down well to make a routine save. West Ham were looking like a different team to the one that rolled over for The Bees in the first-half.
The visitors took the three points and moved to eleventh in the table. The Hammers are only two places above the bottom two but do have a ten point cushion to rely upon. That said, Potter’s side need to start finding a way to win. There is too much reliance on Bowen to single-handedly win them games and other players need to step up to the plate.
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