By Our Man at the Gtech
BRENTFORD 3
Mavropanos (OG) 15’
Thiago (Pen) 54’
Damsgaard 82’
WEST HAM 0
WEST HAM were left feeling the sting of a ruthless Brentford side as their survival hopes took a massive hit at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Bees didn’t just win; they swarmed a luckless Hammers side that hit the woodwork three times and saw a goal chalked off by VAR. While Thomas Frank’s men reignited their European charge, West Ham are now looking over their shoulders with the relegation trapdoor swinging wide open.
STARRY, STARRY NIGHT FOR THE BEES
If this match was a Broadway show, Mikkel Damsgaard and Igor Thiago would be taking the bows.
Damsgaard was the conductor of the orchestra today. The Dane was everywhere, weaving through a static Hammers midfield with the grace of a ballet dancer. His afternoon was capped off with a goal of pure class in the 82nd minute, twisting and turning in the box before sliding a “delectable” finish into the bottom corner.
Then there’s the man they call the “Goal Machine.” Igor Thiago stepped up in the 54th minute to hammer home a penalty after Dango Ouattara was chopped down. It was Thiago’s 25th goal of a sensational season, and the Brazilian looks worth every penny of his price tag.
For West Ham, it was a comedy of errors and “what ifs.” Konstantinos Mavropanos had an afternoon to forget, inadvertently prodding the ball into his own net off the crossbar to give the Bees the lead. He thought he’d redeemed himself minutes later with a header, only for the VAR ghosts to rule it out for offside.
Taty Castellanos will be seeing the goalposts in his nightmares. The Argentine striker hit the woodwork twice in the first half alone, while Crysencio Summerville rattled the bar late on. When they did find the target, they found Caoimhin Kelleher in inspired form, the Bees’ stopper pulling off a string of saves to keep his clean sheet intact.
The result sees Brentford climb to 6th, leapfrogging Brighton and keeping their dreams of a European tour very much alive.
For West Ham, the picture is bleak. They sit just two points above the drop zone, and with Tottenham playing tomorrow, they could find themselves in the bottom three by Sunday night.
BRENTFORD (4-3-3): Kelleher 8; Kayode 7, Collins 7, Van den Berg 7, Lewis-Potter 8; Jensen 7, Yarmoliuk 7, Damsgaard 9; Schade 7, Thiago 8, Ouattara 8.
WEST HAM (4-3-2-1): Hermansen 6; Walker-Peters 5, Mavropanos 4, Disasi 5, Diouf 4; Soucek 5, Fernandes 6; Bowen 6, Pablo 5, Summerville 7; Castellanos 6.
