Brentford beat West Ham to boost European hopes
Brentford 3Mavropanos (OG, 15′)
Thiago (pen, 54′)
Damsgaard (82′)
West Ham 0
Brentford gave their chances of securing a European place a massive boost by ending their six-game winless run in emphatic fashion.
Keith Andrews’ side moved up to sixth place in the Premier League table, thanks to a first-half own goal from Konstantinos Mavropanos, a penalty from Igor Thiago a few minutes after the break, and Mikkel Damsgaard’s late third.
A good day was capped with a late appearance off the substitute’s bench for midfielder Josh Dasilva, who had been out since January 2024.
The hosts went ahead in the 14th minute. The West Ham defence failed to deal with a dangerous cross by Mathias Jensen and Michael Kayode bundled the ball goalward, with visiting defender Mavropanos getting the final touch off.
Valentin Castellanos was unfortunate not to level on a couple of occasions, but the West Ham striker saw both a shot and a superb header hit the post, before Mavropanos then had a goal disallowed by VAR for offside.
In a frenetic first half with numerous opportunities for both teams, Damsgaard should have doubled Brentford’s advantage, but the Dane failed to find the net when Hammers keeper Mads Hermansen was inexplicably exposed outside the penalty area.
The Bees were awarded a penalty in the 51st minute when Dango was clearly impeded by El Hadji Malick Diouf. And Thiago delivered calmly from the spot.
The cushion of a two-goal lead increased the confidence of Andrews’ side and Damsgaard added the third on 82 minutes.
The midfielder picked up a pass from Mathias Jensen just inside the penalty area and found a sufficient gap to place a low shot into the far corner of the net.
Brentford: Kelleher, Kayode, Van Den Berg, Collins, Lewis-Potter (Hickey 90), Yarmolyuk, Jensen, Ouattara (Furo 90) , Damsgaard (Dasilva 90), Schade (Ajer 79), Thiago.
