Key stats
- West Ham United have failed to score in four of their eight games in the Premier League this season. Only Nottingham Forest (five) have failed to score more often in the Premier League this season, which cost Nuno's successor at Forest his job over the weekend.
- Brentford have scored in seven of their eight Premier League games this season - Liverpool are the only team this term to score in all eight of their PL games.
- West Ham United have failed to win in their last five games in the Premier League. Their last longer winless streak was from 10th March 2025 to 4th May 2025, a run of eight games.
Highlights
Analysis
Aside from a promising start, West Ham were hardly in the game. Brentford dominated for large swathes of the game and arguably should have scored even more goals.
Match report
The London Stadium was far from full due to a boycott, but the fans in attendance were offered encouragement from the hosts’ intent in the opening minutes. That wouldn’t last too long, though, as Brentford carried a threat of their own and Kevin Schade had hit the side netting before getting two headers off within 10 minutes.
Jarrod Bowen then fired wide from a tight angle before there was a break in play while Tomáš Souček received treatment for a head injury.
The hosts were pushed back after play resumed with Nathan Collins sending a header over and Dango Ouattara seeing his shot deflected behind before flicking Michael Kayode’s cross to Igor Thiago, who hit the crossbar.
Alphonse Areola then tipped Mikkel Damsgaard’s header wide and rushed out to smother Thiago, before Ouattara had one header diverted past the post by Bowen and sent another harmlessly wide.
Brentford finally got their opener in the 43rd minute, when a ball behind unlocked West Ham’s defence and Areola got a hand to Thiago’s shot but proved unable to stop it from trickling over the line. The Brazilian appeared to have doubled his side’s lead seconds before the break, although he was caught marginally offside.
Nuno Espírito Santo responded by bringing on three defenders ahead of the restart, while Crysencio Summerville got them up the pitch but fired harmlessly off-target. Souček then saw his shot blocked by Sepp van den Berg, who squandered an opportunity at the other end by heading wide despite not being put under any pressure.
Schade then rattled the crossbar with his header, while Bowen was left furious after hitting his effort high and wide at the other end.
Areola denied Thiago and Keane Lewis-Potter’s strike curled narrowly wide, but after Konstantinos Mavropanos’ injury reduced the Hammers to 10 men, substitute Mathias Jensen finally found a Brentford second in the final moments as the Bees earned their first away points of the season.
They also left West Ham without a PL win at the London Stadium this campaign, as the Hammers have opened a top flight campaign with four consecutive home defeats for the first time ever.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford)
Post-match comments
Brentford's Mikkel Damsgaard told Sky Sports the victory has given the team some welcome breathing room from the relegation zone, even at this early stage in the season.
"It was very nice to get the three points, we want to get away from the relegation zone a bit and so it was a big win today," he said.
"It could've been more (goals). We missed a lot of opportunities and set-pieces, but we're still happy with the three points."
On Igor Thiago, he said: "Igor's doing an amazing job. I can't praise enough how hard he's worked, and he deserves all these goals."
Man of the match Igor Thiago, meanwhile, was full of equal praise for his team-mate Damsgaard.
"I was so excited because I missed the first chance and was thinking how much I needed to score," he told Sky Sports about opening the scoring.
"It's so good to play in this team. Strikers wait for these opportunities and we need to be there to score a goal.
"Mikkel is an amazing player. He's clever, it's so easy - you just need to make a movement and he will find you."
Brentford head coach Keith Andrews said he was not concerned despite having to defend a slender lead for most of the game.
"I felt pretty comfortable to be honest," he told Sky Sports.
"It's constant learning for me and the group, how we manage those moments and situations but we have to understand this group is young in the main.
"They're learning as well how to deal with those situations."
West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo referenced his side's good start, but praised a "physical" Brentford team for the way they wrestled the game back.
"Yeah it was tough. Not just for me. It was tough for our fans, for our players, for everybody," he told BBC Sport.
"The first 15 minutes things were clicking and the team were organised and combining well. After that we lost composure.
"Credit to Brentford, a physical team that put us under problems; throw-ins, corners and the momentum of the game changed."
The new West Ham boss says his players need to be up for the challenge of winning their fans' belief. "We're not going to sleep," he said.
"It's a challenge for all of us. It's up to us to change the momentum and bring our fans back to support us. Win our individual duels. In four days time we need a big improvement."